Yes, there's nothing quite so tasty as big, meaty balls. Italian balls are a particular favorite.
So Marc and I bought some ground beef, and I got to work. (What? What did you think I meant?)
As I type this, a nice big pot of meat sauce, full of lovely meatballs, is bubbling away in the kitchen. I made the sauce first. A large can of crushed tomatoes, a medium-size can of crushed tomatoes "with Italian spices" (don't ask about the combo--it's what was in the cabinet) and two small cans of sauce went into the pot. Then I added dried oregano ("just the right amount"--don't ask me about measurements; I leave that to people like Bokey and Anita), chopped up a large onion & dumped that in, and then added about a half pound of the ground beef, broken up into little pieces.
While the sauce started to cook, I assembled the balls. Ground beef (nice fatty "80% lean"--and I love that they even use the word "lean") to which I added oregano, garlic salt, basil, a couple of eggs, a can of tomato paste and something else I'm forgetting right now. I do much better at remembering ingredients when I'm standing there making stuff. Okay, so we'll call that last part the secret ingredient. :)
Marc stepped into the kitchen to help at that point. I shaped the meatballs, and he started browning them in a skillet with a little olive oil in the bottom (you need a little olive oil to start, but the meatballs make plenty of grease themselves in no time).
As he was doing this, the smell from the big sauce pot was getting really good. (I should mention that intermittent sauce stirring is a good thing, even though it's cooked on low heat. Never can get too much stirring!) As the meatballs finished browning, we added them to the sauce. This was a large batch of meatballs, so it took Marc a couple of rounds in the large skillet to get them all browned.
Now it's all in one pot, slowly cooking its way to culinary heaven. I can't wait! Yum!
Update: We decided to chop up and add some fresh basil to the sauce (Marc's idea), as well as some black pepper (my idea) and salt (a joint resolution). The end result is fabulous. In fact, Marc officially declared it "fabulous!" :)
3 comments:
Um, there was also fresh oregano added. And I added a little more tomato paste while you were downstairs, because it wasn't thickening up like it should. But it was your dish, and it was fabulous!
For those of you who might think I am the only cook in this house, you are mistaken!
Uh huh. You're not the only cook, Bokey, but you had to sneak in some tomato paste while I was downstairs. :P
Yes, I can cook, but someone here is a micro-manager! :)
LOL! Cute, you guys.
A friend's mom always adds grape jelly to her meatballs. I tink that is the most disgusting thing ever.
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