Kay's Famous Spaghetti Sauce & Meatballs

Years ago I started with my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe that she learned from an Italian neighbor. Then over the years I tweaked this as I met more cooks and tasted more Italian sauces. I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does! While it is a little bit labor intensive, it is worth all the work when your friends and family beg you to make it. Last year I canned this by making 2 double batches in 2 different pots. They came out wonderfully! This sauce also makes a great pizza sauce.

Ingredients:

1 lb Hot Italian sausage

1 lb Ground chuck

2 Large cans tomato sauce

3 tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Medium yellow onion minced

3 tbsp. Oregano

2 tbsp. Basil

2 large bunches of fresh garlic

1 tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Anise seed

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

1 Egg

1/2 Cup Italian bread crumbs

1 Cup Romano/Asiago shredded cheese divided

Make the Sauce:

Add olive oil to a large pot. Heat the oil to medium high heat. Add diced onion and saute until onions start to brown and translucent. Turn the burner down to low/medium and add 4 cloves fresh minced garlic. saute 2 - 3 more minutes. Add tomato sauce to the pot and stir. Next, add in sugar, basil, oregano, anise seed, salt, pepper and 1/2 C shredded cheese and stir completely. Bring the sauce to a boil for 1 to 2 minutes and then turn the heat down to simmer. Cover with a lid.

Meatballs:

Place the ground chuck in a large bowl. Add one egg 1/2 C shredded cheese, 1/2 C bread crumbs, 3 cloves minced garlic, salt and pepper. Mix completely. Round into medium sized meat balls. Spray a broiler pan with Pam cooking spray. Place meatballs on the pan and broil approximately 5 minutes. Turn each meatball over and broil an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Add the meatballs to the sauce and cover.

Italian Sausage:

Remove the skin from the Italian sausage to cut fat & calories. Cut each piece into 4 - 5 bite size pieces. Arrange on the broiler pan and broil 5 minutes. Turn each piece over and broil an additional 3 to 4 minutes or until brown. Add to the spaghetti sauce. Cover with lid.

Putting it all Together:

Simmer the sauce on low heat with the meatballs and sausage at least 2 hours with 4 hours being preferable. The longer it cooks the better it tastes! Be sure to keep the pot of sauce and meatballs covered while simmering or you will lose sauce.

Tips:

Anise seed is a good secret tip to add sausage flavor to any sauce. Try to make all the meatballs the same size so they all cook evenly. Most stores now sell the shredded Romano/Asiago cheese but you can substitute parmesean cheese. It's important to add sugar to any kind of tomato based sauce to cut the acidity. Be careful when you saute the garlic not to let it burn as garlic burns very quickly.