Ingredients
- Meatballs:
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- Equivalent of 3 slices of white bread, coarsely crumbled (can use sandwich buns, etc.)
- 2 pounds ground chuck
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons parsley, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon fennel seed, crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Preparation
Step 1
Mix eggs, milk and crumbled bread well enough to thoroughly moisten the bread. Set aside as you chop the onion, parsley and garlic. Add these to the bread mixture. Add the fennel, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.
Add ground chuck and mix quickly. Do not overwork beef.
Using scoop, measure out onto waxed paper equal size portions until all mixture is used. Quickly and gently roll each apportionment into a ball, placing onto Pam sprayed jelly roll pan as you proceed.
Bake at 450º for 15 minutes, and begin sauce. After 15 minutes, remove jelly roll pan from the oven, and turn over each meatball. Return to oven for another 15 minutes and continue with making the sauce. After 30 minutes, total, add meatballs to waiting sauce. Stir gently, until each meatball is covered with spaghetti sauce. Cover pot and turn off the heat. Allow to cool enough to refrigerate overnight.
*Spaghetti Sauce:*
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 medium-to-large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
30 ounces tomato sauce
24 ounces tomato paste
2 envelopes (1 ½ ounces each) Spaghetti Sauce Mix with mushrooms
3 cups water
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 heaping teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Preheat large sauce pot. When drips of water sizzle on it, add olive oil. Sauté onion and green pepper until softened, add garlic, stir and sauté another minute or two. Add Spaghetti Sauce Mix and dried herbs, stirring to toast for only another minute. (It starts to burn right after you can smell the aroma of the herbs warming.)
Add sugar, tomato sauce and paste, stir to distribute paste. Add water, stirring as you do to get tomato paste incorporated.
Allow sauce to just come to a thick, plopping kind of boil, then add baked meatballs. Do a quick, gentle stir to get meatballs covered with sauce (do not break them), cover and turn off the heat. Allow pot to sit undisturbed until it is cool enough to put into refrigerator overnight.
Reheat and serve over spaghetti the next day.