Meatballs and Sauce

Two days ago I decided to make meatballs, much to my son's delight.  (He is a huge fan of meatballs on any given day, and this was just icing for him!)  I also decided to make the pasta sauce, as I had a recipe rolling around in my head for several days.  Below you will find the results.

Meatballs
I made these first because they took longer to cook.  Here is what I used:

 

In the bowl:



3 pounds ground beef, 85/15 mix
1 cup bread crumbs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 small onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

I combined all of the ingredients in a large bowl until everything was incorporated.  (Take care not to overwork the meat during this process.) 

Seeing as this is my son's favorite, he learned how to beat an egg and roll meatballs.  My daughter took over the task of scooping out the meat with a small ice-cream scoop.  After scooping and rolling, we ended up with about six dozen meatballs; so many that we had to put them into two pans.

I baked these in the oven at 350 degrees for about half an hour.  While they were baking, I began the pasta sauce. 

Pasta sauce
Here is what I used:

What I used:

Olive oil
1/2 small onion, grated (I used the other half of the onion used to make the meatballs.)
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (I had pear tomatoes in my pantry; you can use any whole tomato.)
1 28-ounce can tomato puree
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3 tablespoons sugar
Salt and pepper to taste*
* I generally don't use much salt in my cooking, so adjust to your taste.

I sauteed the onion in olive oil, then added in the garlic and red pepper flakes.  When the onions were translucent and the garlic tender, I added in the tomato puree and whole tomatoes.  Then I used a potato masher to break the tomatoes down for a chunky sauce.  I then added the Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper. 

I vented the lid of the pot, turned the heat to low, and let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes to prevent burning.

Once the half hour for the meatballs was up, I put them in the sauce and allowed the sauce to continue simmering an additional 15 minutes, stirring frequently.  (Be careful when stirring the sauce, so you don't break up the meatballs.)

While the meatballs and sauce were simmering, I boiled penne pasta.  When the pasta was al dente, I drained it and prepared the bowls.

Dinner was tasty.  My son had seconds. :)