Snow Day! - Make Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs!

Tomato Sauce

Pastene tomatoes I have to say are the best tomatoes to use for making sauce, they are fantastic. My grandmother always used these and I must say my sauce only comes out good when I use this product! Look for them in the yellow can!

2 can of Pastene Kitchen Ready Crushed Tomatoes
1 can of Pastene tomato paste
1 clove of smashed garlic
1/4 cup of olive oil
salt and pepper
(pinch or red pepper flake optional)

In a large pot, on medium-high heat, add your olive oil and garlic. The trick here is to make sure the garlic gets golden brown. Once this happens, add your tomato paste and stir for about a minute or two. Cooking the tomato paste will caramelize it and sweeten it up. To this, add the two cans of crushed tomato and add one can of water to the pot. Add salt and pepper and let simmer for at least 30 minutes on medium.

In the meantime, once the sauce is simmering, its meatball time!

Meatballs

2 lbs of ground beef chuck (you may use ground turkey here too)
3 beaten eggs
1 cup of Italian bread crumbs OR 1 cup of torn Italian bread soaked in milk (you may need a little more)
1 cup of Romano Cheese
1/4 of finely chopped Italian Parsley
Cubed Mozzarella (do not use fresh)
1 Tbs of salt
1/4 tsp each  of pepper and garlic powder
1/2 of milk (you may need a little more here as well)

In a large bowl add all of the ingredients. As you mix these by hand, you want the consistency not to be too hard and not to be too soft. You also do not want to over mix these. If the consistency is too wet, add more bread or breadcrumbs, if too dense and hard, add more milk or even water. Once you have mixed these up, its time to start making the balls. Roll into 1.5 inch balls, place one mozzarella cube in the middle and cover with meat, making a ball and place on a plate. Get a large pan with about 1/4 cup of olive oil and start frying these up until they are brown. Once they are brown (they do not need to be fully cooked)....add them to your sauce. They will finish cooking in there. Cook in the sauce for another hour or two and you are ready to eat.

Tips!

*The longer you let the sauce simmer, the better it will be. You can let this cook all day if you like!

**Add browned sausage or pork to the simmering sauce.

***Skip the sauce and just try the meatballs fried! Delicious! Just make sure you cook them fully! You can also serve these fried meatballs at room temperature or make mini ones!

**** Try stuffing these with different cheeses such as: Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan and even American!

***** Add pieces of pepperoni to the sauce as it cooks!