Cooking & Conversation: Marie's Fabulous Homemade Meatballs & Marinara Sauce

Marie's Fabulous Homemade Meatballs & Marinara Sauce

Marie with her daughter, Cathy.
Grandma's Kitchen, Made from the Heart.

Gather all the ingredients and recruit a good Sous-Chef.

Making the Meatballs:

Pat 2-3 lbs. of ground beef into the bottom of a large pan.

Season with salt.

Season with black pepper to taste.

Marie's Tip: Use good seasonings. Graziano Bros. Italian Seasoning.
If you can't get good spices like Graziano, you can use fennel or fennel seed
along with your spices.

Sprinkle liberally over the meat.
Marie's Tip: "I like to season the meat so the seasonings cook in. That gives it flavor."

Break off 4-5 cloves of garlic from the bulb.
Mince the garlic.
Marie's Tip: A tip Marie learned from Rachel Ray, use a hand grater to mince the garlic.

Marie's Tip: Use good sausage. Graziano Italian sausage is a must, if at all possible.
You can get this now at Hy-Vee stores.
Add 1-1/2 lbs. to the ground beef.

Your freshly washed hands are the best tools to mix the meat.
Mixing things with your washed hands is the best way to feel things .
You will memorize recipes with your fingers as much as with your mind.
You come to know what the texture of the mixture should be.

Mix thoroughly.

Set half of the meat mixture aside for the marinara sauce.

Add a handful of Italian bread crumbs, we used Progresso.

Measure and add a handful of Three Cheese Blend, Parmesan, Romano, & Asiago.

Shake a little dry minced onion flakes and a little dried oregano over the meat.
This recipe varies. Marie learned this recipe from more than one person.
Marie says her Grandmother used fresh onion in her mixture.
(Marie does not use onion in her meatball mixture.)

Chiffonade, means "elegant ribbons", the basil. Stack several basil leaves.
Roll the leaves into a tight tube and cut across the rolled leaves.
Marie's Tip: While you naturally put the basil into the meatballs and then cook them,
the flavor is released by this process.
Some cooks add fresh herbs to the sauce after the dish is prepared.
The flavor does not go all through the dish.

Add two eggs.
(Add 1 egg per lb. of meat).

Add 4 slices of white bread. Marie does not dry them in the oven
and then pulverize them in a food processor.

Instead, she wets them by running them under cold water.
Then, she wrings them dry with her hands.

The bread is then mixed into the meat.

Marie's Tip: Taste the meat mixture for seasonings. In the "old days" you could taste the meat. Now, with the E. coli scare, cook the meat. Avoid tasting raw meat.
Make a sample meatball. You can save a dish by correcting and tasting at every stage.

Cook the meatball in the microwave for 45-60 seconds.

Taste the sample meatball to adjust the seasonings.

A second opinion never hurts.

And a third opinion is great. (I just wanted to sample it.)

Roll meatballs into uniform balls.
Add to heated skillet with olive oil to prevent sticking.
Brown meat over medium heat on both sides.

Marie's Tip: Frying the meat first gives them more flavor than adding to the sauce raw.
That is the way her Grandmother made the meatballs.

When browned, remove from the heat.

Making the Marinara Sauce:

Chop l large yellow onion.

Saute the onions over medium heat.
Add to the pan the remaining half of the meat mixture that was set aside .

Mince 3-4 cloves of garlic.

Add to pan.

Add 2- 6 oz. cans of tomato paste.

To make tomato paste, the tomatoes are first cooked for several hours to reduce moisture, are strained to remove the seeds and skin, then are cooked further to reduce them to a thick, rich concentrate.

(from Editors of Easy Home Cooking Magazine @ recipes.howstuffworks.com))

Cook the tomato paste to take the raw edge off.
Tomato paste, developed in Italy, has its own taste, and will remain in the final sauce.
It adds its own deep savory notes and enhances the other flavors of this dish.

Add the homemade broth saved from cooking pork ribs from a different meal.
We used 12 ozs. of broth. If you do not have broth, thin out sauce with water.
Marie's Tip: Save broth or drippings when cooking pork dishes to add flavor to sauces.
Freeze until ready to use.
Marie said she got this idea from an Italian lady that lived up the street from her.
She used pig's feet broth, so Marie decided to use the broth from pork ribs to add flavor.

Add a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes.
Then, add a 24 oz. can of tomato sauce.
Each type of tomato (whether sauce, puree, or crushed)
adds a different dimension of flavor to this sauce.
Continue to taste the sauce to adjust the seasonings and flavor.
Cook over medium heat so it doesn't burn.

Marie's Tip: Use fresh basil in this dish, along with dried herbs.
It is one herb that really shines when it is fresh.

Add more Graziano Italian Seasoning.

Good quality seasonings make the difference between a good sauce and
an extraordinary culinary experience.

Sprinkle about 1/8 cup of white granulated sugar into sauce.
It "takes the edge off" or helps to counteract the acid in the tomatoes.
It can also enhance the sweetness of the tomatoes.
(If you prefer to add red wine instead of the sugar,
you would add it after you brown the onions, the meat, and the tomato paste.)

Continue to season the sauce by adding garlic powder.

Stack basil leaves, roll them up, and cut.

Put basil into pan and cook it so it can flavor the sauce.
Don't just sprinkle it on top before you serve it.

Return meatballs to sauce and cook on medium heat.

Continue to season. Add some red pepper flakes for a little heat.

Upon tasting, it also needs a little more Graziano Italian Seasoning.
Cook the seasonings to incorporate flavors.

Sauce tastes Great!

A good Sous-Chef (and daughter)!

They look irresistible.

These meatballs and sauce are the foundation of Marie's Famous Lasagna.
(the blog following this one)
Make it a goal to master this recipe.
This sauce would make an old leather boot taste good!
Marie has been making this sauce and meatballs since she was 6 years old,
helping her mother in the kitchen. She has been cooking this for over 70 years.
They are as good as they look.

Grazie! Marie & Cathy, for a wonderful adventure.