Meatballs with Krista

Sunday afternoon was dedicated to spending time at Krista’s (friend from work) with her 3 year old son Anthony, 8 month year old Gianna, and learning how to make meatballs, so I was super excited! Some things I learned was NEVER USE TURKEY MEAT if you want true Italian meatballs. Add egg if the meat is too hard and bread crumbs if meat is to soft and you need a large stainless steel pot that isn’t in a standard set of pots. Oh yeah, and make sure you have about 3-4 hours to make this all come together! Grab a friend and a bottle of wine and here we go..

Step 1-the meatballs
·         We used ground beef, pork, and veal meat that you can buy at the grocery store (same stuff you get to make meatloaf).
·         Heat olive oil with garlic slices in the bottom
·         Cut onions in small pieces and put in bowl with meat
·         Use 1 egg per pound of meat
·         A cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
·         Half cup parmesan and Romano cheese
·         Mix in parsley, seasoned salt, pepper, salt, and garlic salt
·         Roll the balls and drop in the pot in one layer
·         Wait till they brown and flip over
·         Remove meatballs, set aside in separate bowl, keep the oil and brokened up meat pieces in the pot (we will use this for our sauce)

Step 2-Sautéing Sausage
·         You can use Italian (hot) or mild (sweet) sausage pending on your taste buds
·         Use skilled and heat some oil
·         Cut sausages in the middle to take off the skin
·         Slice garlic cloves and add to skillet
·         Place sausages in skillet and cook on low-medium
·         Wait for them to brown and then flip over
·         Leave everything in skillet including juices (we will use this for our sauce)

Step 3-Time to make the Gravy!!

·         Go back to the big pot and add some more olive oil
·         Crush garlic and add to pot
·         Add I small can of tomato paste and stir
·         Add 2 tomato puree large cans and stir
·         Then add all seasonings again-no parsley though (only for meatballs). Next time I'm going to add some oregano
·         Stir for a bit
·         Add basil leaves to the pot (cut or uncut)
·         Then add 2 big cans of crushed tomatoes
·         Then add all the sausage with its drippings
·         Add some more garlic
·         Then add the meatballs and grease from bowl
·         Put on low and let sit for an hour to absorb all the deliciousness
·         After one hour do a taste test to see if you need to add any additional seasonings.

** This is Krista’s recipes so she adds flavors to her families tastes but this is where you can get creative and add the seasonings to satisfy how your family likes it!

Then voila! Cook up some pasta and you have homemade gravy and meatballs (and sausage!). You’ve probably made enough for the month so you can take storage containers and freeze some for later use! Krista gave me plenty to take home and I made angel hair pasta with meatballs and sauce and Anthony was impressed! Thanks Krista!