Old Classic Meatballs and Sauce These recipes are from the archives of the Marra family. Mrs. Marra's (Tootsie) mom, Edith was a fabulous cook and it was years before I was able to get all of these recipes. Meatballs 2 lbs ground turkey/chicken (new option about 10yrs ago) or 2 lbs of ground meat (beef and pork) 2-6 tablespoons olive oil (2 for meat, 6 for turkey) 2 eggs 1 cup grated parmesan cheese Some salt Some pepper 1 ½ teaspoons basil 1 teaspoon oregano 2-3 tablespoons granulated garlic 1-2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic 1 tablespoon dried, crushed garlic chives Breadcrumbs to structure Mash everything together - Make the balls and fry them (so they aren't touching) and sear the outside. Transfer the frying pan to the oven and bake them until they are firm. Add to the sauce. Use some white or red wine to deglaze the frying pan and add that to the sauce. Sauce - Medium (used with most dishes) 4 cans to ground peeled tomatoes (Pastene) 1 can Tomato Paste (Pastene) 4 cups of chicken stock ¾ cup of olive oil ½ cup of red wine (from frying pan deglazing) 1 rounded tablespoons of garlic powder 2 tablespoons dried minced 3 teaspoons minced fresh garlic Some salt Some pepper Crushed red pepper(to taste) 1 ½ tablespoons dried basil 1 teaspoon dried oregano 2 tablespoons dried parsley Cheese – whatever hunks you have. Add the oil to a stock pot and on a low heat cook the fresh garlic (do NOT let it fry or get brown - you just want to infuse the oil). Add the can of tomato paste and stir that in to the oil -- this will take a bit of stirring, but turn the heat up a bit and let it "fry" as you are stirring. Add the red wine and the 4 cans of tomatoes along with the remaining ingredients, including any cheese 'rinds' that you might have (I always save the rinds from the Parmesan) -- if you don't have this then add a hunk of Parm to the sauce. Cook on a low heat, 4-6 hours. You don't want it bubble boiling, – add olive oil if needed or more water. This sauce is great to start in the stock pot and then transfer to a slow cooker and just let it go for the 6hrs. Note: This is the way I learned from the Italian grandmothers. When it comes to the garlic, they used a mix of fresh and dried, however most of the time I'll just use the fresh garlic.. whatever the total measure for garlic is (but then we like the garlicy flavor) Back to Italian Foods