(This post was originally published on February 1, 2011 here.)
My mom is a great cook. I love it when I go home during the summer and get to eat her cooking. I'm sure as a picky child I was a royal pain in the butt for her, but karma has already bitten me in the butt twice as I try to get my children to eat!
Some of my favorite foods were homemade ravioli, spaghetti, halupkie, fashnachts, etc. Probably the most incredible thing after listing those foods is that we're not Italian, Polish or German. My hubby's German, but he never had a fastnacht before I made one for him...I guess it was regional German...or maybe just Pennsylvania Dutch. Anyway, my mom is 100% Irish and never an Irish dish found it's way to my plate that I'm aware of. As an adult I can kind of see why. I've attempted to eat and attempted to make, corned beef and cabbage. It was not pretty nor pleasant in any way. So I'll stick to scones and colcannon for now...*
The recipe I'm going to share is my mother's for Spaghetti and Meatballs. It's comfort food for me. I omit the green peppers when I make it because they're one of the few things my husband doesn't eat. He says they repeat on him so no peppers in my sauce! I hated the sausage when I was younger (especially the hot sausage), but adore it now! It adds flavor even if the kids won't touch it. I think sausage has changed a bit over the years because what I didn't like about it was biting in to one of those fennel seeds. The crunch and texture was off-putting and I wasn't a fan of the flavor.
So here it is...Alice Brown's Spaghetti and Meatballs!
The Sauce:
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green pepper, diced (optional)
1 tbsp dried sweet basil
2 tbsp dried oregano
4 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 c. red wine
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, cut into pieces
1 lb hot Italian sausage, cut into pieces
Meatballs (recipe follows)
In a large soup pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil.; Sauté the onion and garlic (and green pepper if using). Add the basil and oregano and stir. Pour in the tomatoes and tomato sauce and stir. Add the cheese, wine, sausages and meatballs. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook until meatballs and sausage are cooked through.
So you probably need to know about those meatballs....
The Meatballs
1 lb ground beef (chicken or turkey may be substituted)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried sweet basil
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 eggs
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
Italian Bread Crumbs
Salt and Pepper
In a large bowl place the meat, garlic, basil, oregano, eggs, Parmesan cheese and a few dashes of salt and pepper. Pour bread crumbs down the center of the meat in the bowl (I do not have a measurement for this, nor do I want to guess at it. My mom gave me these instructions and they work. Maybe someday I’ll measure. If I had to guess I would say that it’s about ¾ cup.). Mix with hands. Form into balls and place in spaghetti sauce to cook.
Cook pasta according to package directions on box and serve with sauce, sausage, and meatballs.
*Since writing this original post I have discovered some very tasty Irish meals. I still won't eat corned beef, but I've created my own recipe for Guinness Stew, Sheppards Pie, and my mom had a great beer batter dipped fish recipe that I'll have to blog sometime. When I asked her a while back why she always made foods from other ethnicities and not Irish food, she told me that her mom boiled everything. Not that her mom was always cooking Irish food when she boiled everything, but it wasn't the first time someone jokingly stated that Irish food is all boiled. It's certainly not!
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