Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love spaghetti and meatballs, but only if it's homemade sauce and homemade meatballs. I don't do sauce in a jar (I've tried most of them and they are too sweet for my tastes) and I haven't found any frozen meatballs that aren't hard and tasteless yet. One night, I was talking to my friend (who is part Italian) and she told me about how wonderful her Grandma's meatballs were. After that conversation, I decided that I needed to find a recipe for meatballs! With some searching online, I found one in the New York Times and sent it to my friend. She told me that it sounded very similar to the one that her Grandma made, so I was excited to try it out.

Nathaniel LOVED them and was disappointed that there wasn't more (we did let him eat about half of them--you can imagine how much growing teenagers eat). I will admit that I ended up burning the first batch because I used a pan that I never usually use and it heated a lot quicker than my other ones (might have to start using it more often). After adjusting the heat to a very low temp, I was able to brown them to perfection. I also admit that my meatballs weren't perfectly uniform and pretty, but they tasted so good that I hope a dinner guest wouldn't complain!

The tomato sauce that I used is a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis' Marinara Sauce from her cookbook Everyday Italian. It's a great sauce that can be frozen for up to three months. We froze half of it, so that Chris would have something to eat this weekend while I am out of town. I'll probably be making this again during the cold winter, if it ever comes that is!

Meatballs