Down Home Comfort Food

Attention pasta lovers...new recipe alert.

Until this week, I haven't made meatballs for many years...a decade, maybe.  But this week, after some urging by husband and child, I decided to make them, along with a new tomato sauce recipe.  I researched the internet for recipes and finally landed on two easy-looking recipes, both of which had rave reviews (5 stars out of 5 stars) by followers of allrecipes.com.  We now share those rave reviews.

In case you, too, are looking for good recipes for both meatballs and tomato sauce, please enjoy these:

Meatballs Nirvana

1 pound extra lean ground beef (I used organic, but any will do)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 onion, diced (raw)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1-1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (which I further ground in my coffee-turned-spice grinder)
1 dash hot pepper sauce, like Tobasco (I probably used a bit more)
1-1/2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used the shake-on kind)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup skim milk (I used a wee bit less - added this last to see what consistency I'd get)

Preheat oven to 200 Celsius/400 Farenheit
Mix 'em up...using your hands to get everything well incorporated.
Form them into balls.  I used a medium-sized cookie scoop to get a consistent size, but whatever.
Put them onto a baking sheet and bake for a total of 30 minutes (after 20 minutes, I turned them so they'd get nice and brown on the other side, too)

The original recipe says that I'd get about 12 meatballs out of one recipe, but I doubled the recipe and got 60 meatballs.  I used what I wanted for that meal, and froze the rest of the cooked meatballs in a freezer bag...to be used next time the craving strikes.

Note: this picture doesn't do justice to how the meatballs really looked - this was taken before I turned them and let the topside brown...they really do look much more delish than this picture gives them credit for...and the taste....

Homemade Tomato Sauce

4 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used less)
1 large onion, diced
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes (I doubled the recipe and used 1 can of crushed, and one can of diced - it was lovely to have some chunks)
2 cups of water (I used about 1/2 cup less)
1 small can tomato paste
3-4 fresh basil leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper

In a large pot over medium-high heat, saute onions in the oil until golden brown (this takes a bit of time; don't rush it - you want the flavours of the golden onions).
Add everything else.
Let the sauce come to a boil, then lower heat and stir occasionally until desired thickness.  I let mine simmer for about 2 hours, to let the flavours meld together.  If any oil rises to the top, skim it off (it didn't in my case, probably because the beef I used was extremely lean organic beef and absorbed the bit of oil I put in).

Serve sauce and meatballs over whole wheat linguine or spaghetti, with a side of salad, and enjoy!!