Spaghetti and Meatballs

This was the first recipe I ever learned, and was the first meal I ever prepared solo. My grandma lives in the same town in which I was born, so I had no shortage of opportunities to learn from the best. What I make today is quite a bit different (and, admittedly, still inferior), but isn't bad. Again, this makes way more sauce than you will consume in one, two, or three sittings, so try to track down some glass jars for freezer storage. You can use tupperware, I guess, but it might crack in the freezer if it's shitty tupperware.

Tomato Sauce

2 29oz cans tomato sauce
1 29oz can diced tomatoes
1 29oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato paste
3 cups water
Olive oil
Garlic (6-8 cloves)
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
Basil
Oregano
Red wine

To prepare the sauce, first pour enough olive oil (I use extra virgin, personally) into a large pot so that the bottom of the bot is lightly covered. Mince enough garlic to lightly cover the bottom of the pot. I like to sprinkle a little salt on my minced garlic, then crush it well with the flat of my knife. Helps the garlic dissolve a little more in the sauce. Open the cans of sauce, diced tomatoes, and whole tomatoes now, so you can put them into the pot quickly before the garlic burns, which is always bad news. If the garlic is brown, it burned, and you will be able to taste the bitter (literally) difference. Throw the whole tomatoes in a blender and puree them. Put the oil on low heat and throw in the garlic. Watch for bubbles in the oil forming around the pieces of garlic as a cue to add and stir in the tomato sauce. After you add the sauce, add the tomato paste and water. Throw in some fresh basil and oregano (or non-fresh, if you don't have any), and sprinkle in some salt and ground black pepper, to taste. Add some fresh parsley, too. Personally, I like to mince the parsley with a couple more cloves of garlic and add them together. Stir the sauce, and add some red wine (I usually just eyeball it, but 1 1/2 - 2 cups seems safe). I like my sauce very tangy, but if that doesn't suit you, you can always throw in a couple teaspoons of white sugar. Turn the heat up to high, cover, and bring to a boil. Lower to medium-high heat and let simmer. Leave the lid a little off. Leave the sauce for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally.

After an hour and a half, you can start preparing the meatballs.

2 tbsp Cheese (pecorino romano/reggiano parmigianno)
3 tbsp Italian breadcrumbs
Garlic
Parsley
2 lb Ground beef
2 Eggs
Salt
Pepper

Take the ground beef/chuck/sirloin (the latter is probably the better, as lean as possible) and put it in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and mix well, using your hands. Add in the breadcrumbs and cheese (I usually go with one tablespoon of each of the grated cheeses listed above, preferably from an Italian deli) and mix again. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Mince some parsley and about four cloves of garlic, add, and mix. The meatballs should be a little larger than golf balls. Roll them lightly and don't pack them too densely. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry about eight meatballs at a time for only a few seconds, moving the pan around to brown the meatballs evenly. After a few seconds, dump the meatballs into the sauce, and lower the heat a little bit (by now, the sauce should have been simmering for around two hours). This part is a little messy. Wear an apron or dark clothing when making this. I guess I probably should have mentioned that earlier. Once all of the meatballs are in the sauce, replace the lid as it was. After another half hour, remove the lid. At this point, you probably will want to start boiling some water for the pasta. Let the meatballs cook for another half hour, boil the pasta, and you should be all set. Try to avoid stirring the sauce for the first twenty minutes after the meatballs are placed into the pot. I personally don't like sausage much, but adding some Italian sausage into the sauce to cook seems to be pretty popular amongst most of my family members.

It's messy, it takes forever, but it's worth it. Just make sure you have about ten to twelve people to serve. My grandma never taught me how to cook small portions.