I’m back!  I have a few things saved up from my month off. I can’t wait to share it all!

Donald’s family makes the most fantastic meatballs. Seriously. They are amazing. Unfortunately, they require a cooking method is one I don’t particularly love (deep frying) but the flavor is worth it. I am sure you can bake them, but its one of the few foods my husband won’t compromise on.

We like to make a bunch of meatballs at a time, usually 6lbs of ground beef. This makes enough for us for months. They freeze perfectly and cook up well after freezing.

I only have one picture of the final dish. If we make these again soon, I will take pictures of the process. Its hard to take pictures because you are literally up to your elbows in beef.

Spicey Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spicy Spaghetti and Meatballs

Meatballs

Ingredients

3 lbs ground beef, at most 90% lean

1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup shredded romano cheese

2 tbsp Italian seasoning

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp parsley, basil, oregano

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Directions

Mix all of the ingredients together. That’s it.

Ok there is a bit more to it than that. There is a very specific texture that you need to achieve here, there is a delicate balance of breadcrumbs and egg in the meatballs that allows them to stick together very well and yet still be firm when you roll them up into a ball, they should not squish easily between your fingers.  You want them to have some “bounce” when you gently squeeze them.

Preheat your deep fryer to 325 degrees.

Roll 3 to 4 meatballs and then cook them for 5 minutes, and taste them. Make sure your spice balance is right. You want them to be very flavorful as they are.

Once you have your spice balance and texture right, cook tem all up and then allow to cool. They will freeze perfectly in a gallon sized bag.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients

1 jar pasta sauce, your choice

1 can diced tomato

1 can (small can) tomato paste

1 jalapeno, diced small (I remove the seeds…)

1/2 onion chopped finely

2 tbsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

2 tsp each oregano, basil, parsley

1 tbsp brown sugar… trust me

1 tbsp tabasco (no more spice, I promise)

Meatballs!

EVOO

Directions

In your dutch oven or large saucepan, saute the onion and jalapeno until softened. Then add the pasta sauce, tomato and the paste. Make sure the sauce is a little watery at this point, a lot of that water will cook off and you want it to be a bit thin right now for the meatballs.

Add there rest of the ingredients EXCEPT THE BROWN SUGAR. Save that. Make sure that the meatballs are submerged completely by the sauce.

Heat until it bubbles then turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 2 hours at least, but its better if you go  4-5 hours.

1.5 hours from completion, add the brown sugar.

At the end, if the pasta is still a little too watery, leave the top off and heat to medium for a few minutes. It won’t last long.