Mozzarella stuffed Meatballs with homemade Marinara 3

Just another plate of spaghetti and meatballs, you say? As if that were a bad thing! This post is really all about the marinara, which is so easy and rich and delicious that you may never bother to buy another jar of pasta sauce again. And the meatballs? Well, they help to get the sauce up in ya, not that it hurts any that they are juicy, cheesy perfection. This makes a lot, so plan on making more than a few people love you more than they already do. This also freezes really well. Self love is a good thing too.

Here is what you need and what I did for the sauce:

This will take about 20-25 minutes of hands on time, followed by 1 - 4 hours of simmering on the stove time. The longer the better.

A shopping list is at the end of the post.

Start with one medium-sized onion, chopped to a fairly small dice.

Toss that into a soup pot with a glug or two of olive oil, and a sprinkle of kosher salt.

Let that cook over a medium low heat for ten to fifteen minutes, until your onion is softened and looks like this…

Now is the time to finely grate or chop one clove of raw garlic and stir it in. Get those tomato cans open and immediately (so the garlic does not even consider burning) empty all three into your pot. I used two 28oz cans of whole tomatoes and one 28oz can of crushed tomatoes. You do not have to use no salt added tomatoes (in fact I did not intend to get them that way, they just ended up in my cart!) but please, find a decent brand you really like. I happen to be a fan of Hunts products. Add half of that little can of tomato paste (you can save the rest for your meatballs), two healthy teaspoons of dried oregano or Italian seasoning, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flake. You will also need a really generous sprinkling of salt (start with a teaspoon, you will taste and add more if you need to) and a grind or two or three of fresh black pepper.

The majority of your work here is done. Let this simmer on a low heat, with a lid half on (just askew enough to let the steam escape) for at least an hour and up to four. The sauce will reduce and get a little darker as it cooks down. After you have given as much time as you can to it, turn off the heat and let it cool down a little. Give it a taste. You may need more salt, maybe more oregano. If you feel it is too acidic (and some tomatoes are) add a teaspoon or so of honey or even a sprinkle of sugar to cut the acid. Just add this a little at a time and taste as you go. You don’t want your marinara to taste like ketchup!

Oh, that green stuff you saw at the beginning? That was the contents of a package of fresh basil. Go ahead and give that a rough chop…

and toss it into your pot.

Get out your immersion blender …..

and give this a whirl, until your sauce is smooth and beautiful. As always, taste and adjust for seasonings. You can use a blender for this part but it creates a crazy mess and almost pulverizes the basil too much…. so go that route at your own risk, if you must. An immersion blender is perfect for this and so many other things. So get one. Seriously…..

and you will be rewarded with a thick, luscious, tomato sauce that you can use on pasta, in lasagna, with an eggplant parmigiana, over chicken cutlets, on a pizza, etc., etc., but for this day, we’re putting it over some perfect meatballs.

Here is what you need and what I did:

Hands on time for this will be about twenty minutes, followed by 35 minutes in the oven. This makes about 2 dozen really good sized meatballs. Hope you have a big family……

Start with about a half cup of panko breadcrumbs in a big mixing bowl. You want to soak them in the same amount (half a cup in this case) of liquid, and that can be milk, chicken stock, beef broth, tomato juice or even water. So mix that together, (I used some leftover chicken stock) and let it sit for about three minutes. You will add to that mush two eggs, a healthy teaspoon of oregano or Italian seasoning, a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, three or four good dashes of Worcestershire sauce, the remainder of that can of tomato paste you had leftover, one finely grated clove of garlic, and about a half a cup of finely grated parmesan cheese.

give it a mix

and then plop your meat right on top. I use a mixture of sweet Italian sausage with a package of “meatloaf” mix, essentially ground beef and ground pork in one package. If you can’t find that, pre-packaged plain ground beef is fine, but don’t leave out the sausage! Now you want to use your hands here, and get in there and gently mix the egg binder through your pork/beef/sausage trio. DO NOT mix and mix and mix and mix……..just gently go up and under to disburse everything gently - over mixing equals rubbery meatballs! We don’t want that.

What I did not include in the ingredient photo, but what makes these meatballs so over the top good, is a little container of bocconcini, which are just little balls of fresh mozzarella cheese. They come packaged in liquid, so just drain that off and let them air out on a layer of paper towels.

Then, take about a golf ball size scoop of the meat mixture….

push your thumb in there to give it a little indent and then pop one of those cheese balls right into the middle….

and smoosh it all around the cheese to completely encapsulate it. Make sure they are completely covered in meatball mixture.

Put them into a shallow baking dish and pop em into a preheated 350 degree oven for thirty minutes. When you take them out, you will have this…

and this…

Oh man! Make sure to let any meat rest for at least ten minutes after taking it out of the oven. I just take them and place them in my pot of sauce which I slosh out all over some pasta and barely dressed arugula. Grate some more of the parmesan cheese over the whole thing.

You’re welcome.

Your shopping list will consist of:

two large (28 oz) cans of whole tomatoes

one large (28 oz) can of pureed tomatoes

one small can of tomato paste

garlic

one medium sized (yellow is fine) onion

one package of fresh basil leaves

one 1 lb package of sweet Italian sausage

one 1 lb package of ground beef or meatloaf pre-mix (pork/beef)

Panko breadcrumbs (seasoned)

eggs (2)

one container of (little) fresh mozzarella balls

wedge of parmesan cheese

Worcestershire sauce

And….if you want, some sort of pasta

Stuff you may already have on hand….

Kosher salt, Black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, olive oil, dried oregano or Italian seasoning, sugar or honey