Linda, that entire recipe is for the meatballs. The sauce had a separate recipe. I didn't keep it because I use my own sauce but it's just a basic marinara.

Yes, start with Make the Meatballs. Sharon is correct, any tomato sauce will do.....

Alexa

Thanks, I figured that was probably the issue.

The balls are in the oven right now. I chose to bake them. The meat mixture was VERY loose, I had to add more bread crumbs and cheese just to get it to mold into a ball. Anyone else had this problem?

Maybe I used too large an onion.

Linda

Just don't burn them like I did when Claire de Luna came to dinner! But if you do, there's some decent frozen Angus Beef Meatballs.

Oh no!!! They should be super loose, that is what makes the end result so special! Let us know how it goes with the extra stuff.

Linda , I found them to be way too loose as well so I've modified it somewhat by reducing the eggs from 5 to 3 and increasing the cheese to 3/4 a cup.

I also often use day old bread instead of dry bread crumbs.

The looseness is what makes them so good. The only thing I changed was to reduce the eggs by one. They wouldn't hold into a really good ball. The looser you can deal with it, the better the meatball. Let us know how yours turned out.

They taste great! Very tender, too.

The mixture was still very loose, but they wouldn't have even resembled a "ball" if I hadn't added the extra stuff. And a lot of the egg ended up in the bottom of the pan. So next time I'll only use 3 eggs.

Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner! YUM!

Linda

Linda:
The recipe is about the same as mine.
Most of the time I use Beef and Pork,
sometimes I'll take the skin off a couple of Italian Sausage links and use that in place of the Pork.

I chop the Onions small and nuke about 1 1/2 minutes before mixing.
Also, I use Garlic Powder.
The KA Mixer is great with the Paddle beater.It pulls out all the Gristle and it clings to the beater.
I bake the Meatballs too.
****************************

If anyone is interested in the Recipe.
You can Google it ( Lou's Italian Meatballs, Hamburgers)
I don't know why but there are little squares replacing 1/2
in the measurements.
Lou

So glad they turned out well Linda. Thanks for letting us know.

Mama's meatballs are the best...it's all the fresh herbs and the 3 kinds of meat. and while it's easier to bake them, frying them in 1/2 inch of oil does really firm them up quickly and allow a really tender meatball.

Mine were kind of hard to deal with the first time I made them so I added a little more cheese and crumbs. The next time I stuck the whole bowl in the freezer for a bit before making the balls. That seemed to help/work for me. Time for me to make some meatballs now. Glad to hear dinner was good Linda.

David

LOL, Linda....my herb garden is hiding under about 5 inches of snow (that's what's left of the 9-1/2" we got on Saturday), so I used dried herbs except for the fresh basil that I froze in EVOO a few months ago.

Difficult to find veal around these parts, so I used 1lb of lean ground beef and 1lb of ground pork. So I actually had more meat than the recipe called for, but still it was waaayyy too liquid to make a ball out of. The extra beread crumbs and cheese helped a lot, but I would stil use less eggs next time.

Simmered a few in my favorite marinara recipe and froze the rest. Dinner was delish!

Linda

Linda, that mixture is very wet when I make it too, and I never use veal, I use a mixture of beef and pork. A couple of times I've added turkey just because I had it.

I always bake the meatballs and I make triple batches and freeze the meatballs after I bake them so the girls can just pull them from the freezer, add sauce and have supper.

They make great swedish meatballs and I love them with FOAS sauerbraten sauce.

Annie

From Rocco's website:

Mama's Meat Balls

1/3 cup chicken stock
1/4 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
¼ cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped fine
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground veal
1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
3-6 cups of Mama's Marinara or your favorite marinara sauce
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Place the chicken stock, onion, garlic and parsley in a blender of food processor and puree.

2. In a large bowl, combine the pureed stock mix, meat, bread crumbs, eggs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, red pepper flakes, parsley and salt. Combine with both hands until mixture is uniform. Do not over mix.

3. Put a little olive oil on your hands and form mixture into balls a little larger than golf balls. They should be about ¼ cup each, though if you prefer bigger or smaller, it will only affect the browning time.

4. Pour about 1/2-inch of extra virgin olive oil into a straight-sided, 10-inch-wide sauté pan and heat over medium-high flame. Add the meatballs to the pan (working in batches if necessary) and brown meatballs, turning once. This will take about 10-15 minutes.

5. While the meatballs are browning, heat the marinara sauce in a stockpot over medium heat. Lift the meatballs out of the sauté pan with a slotted spoon and put them in the marinara sauce. Stir gently. Simmer for one hour.

6. Serve with a little extra Parmigiano-Reggiano sprinkled on top. Serve alone or over spaghetti (in which case, you will need 6 cups of marinara).

Yield: Serves 4 as antipasto or over spaghetti

Mama's Marinara

My Mom's sauce is my favorite--we call it the Mama sauce, and once you make it you will understand how it can become the backbone for so many dishes. Of course, you'll need it to make her famous meatballs, but it is also a great sauce to braise meat in, serve with eggs, or turn into a creamy tomato sauce.

3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and chopped fine
3 tbsp olive oil
chili flakes to taste
2 28-ounce cans tomato puree, Red Pack brand if possible
1 28-ounce. can crushed tomatoes, Red Pack brand if possible
1 tbsp tomato paste, Red Pack brand if possible
1 tsp sugar
1 cup chicken stock
red pepper flakes to taste
salt to taste

1. Cook the garlic and onion in the olive oil in a sauce pot over a medium-low flame, about 10 minutes or until garlic is tender and onions translucent, not brown (this is called "sweating" because it will draw out a lot of moisture and flavor). Add the chili flakes to taste.

2. Add all the tomato products. Pour the chicken stock into one of the 28-oz cans. Fill it the rest of the way with water and add that and the sugar to the pot. Stir and bring to a simmer. Taste and season with salt and cover. Simmer the sauce for about 1 hour. The sauce should be fairly thin, but not watery and very smooth. Uncover and simmer for 3 minutes if it is too thin for your taste; add a little water if it seems thick.
Tip: Broiling Chicken
This is my favorite 5 ingredient/5 minute dish. It's the perfect combination of flavors, tastes amazing, and cooks underneath the broiler. Let it burn! That charred flavor is an important part of the dish.

Yield: Serve 6

Hmm, is it common for marinara sauce to have meat stock in it? I always thought it was the safe sauce to order as a vegetarian but now I'm wondering!

No...marinara sauce is usually just tomatoes garlic onions and herbs....

I just love Momma's meatballs!!

The mixture is very loose....try placing the meat into the fridge for about 20 minutes before frying.

Its my go-to recipe....comes out delish every time and I've had the real Momma's meatballs and met the real Momma!!

Cheers!
Susie

Wow. Amazing how different the recipe we all have and the one from the website are!

My favorite marinara recipe has chicken stock in it, so I guess it just depends on which recipe one uses.

Linda

Thank you. Guess I'll have to start asking in restaurants!

chi 83:
As far as I know; traditionally, Marinara Sauce was made for Seafood.
Marinara, Mare, has to do with the Sea, Sailors.

It is simply made with crushed tomatoes, a lot of Garlic, Parsley and Onions.
Basil and whatever your choice can be added also.

It is simmered a little while and the Seafood is added,for a short time.
According to individual cooking times of the Seafood.

That's what we did with it many many years.

Today is different. Marinara Sauce is made with everything.
You would be best; as you said, to ask in restaurants.
Lou