Italians in Italy do not cook spaghetti and meatballs. ;-)
I do not put meatballs into my spaghetti sauce.
I am going to give to you a recipe that, if you would serve it to Italians, would be your friends forever:
Ingredients:
One whole chuck roast.
A package of Italian sausage.
One pound of ground beef, broken into almost individual grinds.
Boneless chicken thighs, ( amount is flexible )
One large, sliced yellow squash
One large, sliced zucchini.
4 green peppers, cut to the size you like.
Sliced celery, cut to the size you like.
One whole onion, chopped to size.
One whole garlic, peeled and sliced to size.
One whole garlic, to be put into the sauce whole, without peeling.
One large potato peeled and cut to size.
Four boiled eggs, to be put into the sauce just prior to serving.
One small package of ‘baby carrots’.
Sugar to taste.
Oregano and sage to taste or a small amount of “Italian seasoning.
One can of tomato paste. I prefer Contadina.
One or more cans of whole tomatoes.
Olive oil to be added after the pot is already cooking or I prefer peanut oil.
Fry off all of the meat. Put it aside until the pot is ‘ready’.
In the cooking pot, put all of the green peppers, all of the celery, all of the sliced garlic and all of the chopped onions with a small amount of cooking oil, not olive oil, and butter. Olive oil should never be used for frying anything.
Let it simmer until the vegetables get soft.
Add the whole tomatoes.
Add the tomato paste.
Add the carrots.
Ass the whole garlic.
Add water or beer as you prefer.
Add meats after they have been ‘fried off’.
Add oregano and/or sage to taste.
Almost forgot the bread: One loaf of French or other loaf bread. Cut and fold it open. Pour generous amounts of butter, olive oil and minced garlic to the bread. Put in oven about 10 - 15 minutes on 400 degrees just prior to serving.
Add the squash and zucchini about an hour before it is to be served.
Add the boiled eggs about 20 minutes before being served.
Let it cook on low heat for about 4 - 6 hours depending upon the quality of the meat. The beef will almost melt in your mouth as will the chicken. The Italian sausage will stay firm because of the skin but still be very soft.
Spaghetti:
Boil water with a small amount of olive oil, butter, onion powder and garlic powder and salt.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Pour the water and spaghetti into a colander. Put some of the hot water back into the pot in which it was boiled. Put the pot back on the stove. Put the colander with the spaghetti in it into the ‘edges’ of the pot. The hot water in the bottom of the pot keeps the spaghetti moist.
Put a large kitchen spoon into the spaghetti pot.
Put a large kitchen fork into the spaghetti.
Give each person who is to eat a plate, knife, fork and spoon. Let each person serve himself directly from the pot. In that way, the food stays reasonably hot and everyone gets to take what he wants.
Yes, I know that this is long and difficult but it is the only way to eat spaghetti! Meatballs? Bah-humbug! ;-)
A guy I knew made that back when I was in my 20s. He invited a whole bunch of friends over and they sat around drinking wine the whole time it cooked. By the time it was ready they were all passed out. His roommate turned if off, and it sat there all night, so they had to throw it out.