This is one of the most popular meals I make for larger family gatherings or social events, and is inspired by my Italian-Quebecois stepmother’s legendary pasta feasts.

The ingredients are relatively simple and inexpensive, and the process is pretty easy as well…or at least not very technical - there is a bit of work involved!

This makes a LOT of food (25-30 meatballs), so definitely share it with friends and family!

Of course, this is great with my Sourdough Ligurian-Style Focaccia as well… ;)

Time

About 20 minutes prep and 1 hour 45 minutes cooking

Ingredients / Equipment

Tools You’ll Need

Cutting board and knife
Your hands - you may also want some disposable latex gloves ;)
1/4 cup measure
Large non-stick frying pan
A deep roasting / lasagna pan (I use a recyclable foil lasagna pan)
Immersion blender, food mill or blender

Ingredients for the meatballs

900g (2 lb.) extra lean ground beef
450g (1 lb.) ground pork
200g (about 1/2 lb.) breadcrumbs
Grated parmesan or romano cheese (to taste - I use about 1 TBSP per pound of meat)
21g (about 1 TBSP) sea salt
3/4 tsp of granulated garlic / garlic powder
Freshly ground black pepper (to taste - I like lots!)
2 whole eggs

Olive oil for cooking

OPTIONAL:

Fresh or dried thyme or other herbs (to taste)

Ingredients for the sauce

2x 796ml / 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1x 796ml (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion
1 medium carrot
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves

OPTIONAL:

1 cup of dry red wine (something Italian!)
Dry red chili flakes if you like your sauce spicy

Method

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F / 190 degrees C
Roughly chop the onion and carrot, peel and smash the garlic cloves, and set it all aside in a bowl.
Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, sea salt and garlic powder (and herbs if you’re using them) in a bowl - set aside.
Combine ground beef and ground pork in a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with your hands, squeezing the meat through your fingers to ensure both meats are fully integrated together.

DOING THIS WITH YOUR HANDS IS CRUCIAL TO THE TEXTURE, SO DON’T WIMP OUT!

This is where the latex gloves might come in handy, because the meat will be SUPER cold on your hands, and the gloves provide just enough of a barrier to make it tolerable.
Add the eggs to the mixture, and continue combining with your hands until the eggs are well integrated.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixture, and grind the fresh black pepper over top. I basically try to make about 2-3 full passes over the surface with the grinder. Not quite sure how much pepper that ends up being, but my assistant turned the crank of our grinder 45 times… ;)

Again, continue using your hands to combine, squeezing the mixture through your fingers until it has a very uniform consistency.
Using the 1/4 cup measure to portion the mixture, squeeze / roll each portion in your hands to form a ball. You should end up with somewhere around 25-30 or so meatballs.
Heat olive oil in your non-stick pan over medium-high heat (on my stove, I use setting 7 of 9), and brown the meatballs for about 3-4 minutes total, turning them a few times to brown as much of the surface as possible. As they finish browning, place them in the roasting pan, preferably in a single layer.
Once all the meatballs have been browned and placed in the roasting pan, scatter the roughly chopped vegetables, dried thyme and bay leaves over top.
Cover the meatballs and veggies with the canned diced and crushed tomatoes (and wine if you choose to use it). Everything should be submerged in the tomatoes - if not, you may need to add more tomatoes to make sure they are.
Cover the roasting pan with foil. If you’re using a foil roasting pan like I do, you’ll probably want to put it on a baking sheet for safety / stability as well.
Place in the oven to cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.
After cooking is done, remove the meatballs from the sauce, remove and discard the bay leaves, then puree the sauce and veggies with an immersion blender (or pass it all through a food mill, or do it in batches in a blender). You can either then return the meatballs to the sauce, or serve the meatballs and sauce separately.

Serve over your favourite pasta and/or some sautéed hearty greens, and top with some freshly-grated parmesan or romano cheese and freshly-ground black pepper.

I often also add some hot or mild Italian sausages to cook alongside the meatballs in the tomato sauce. These can lend even more flavour to the sauce, and add a bit of variety to the meat selection. In my stepmother’s feast, she would often also include some pork rib ends to the selection as well, again, braised off with the other meats in the tomatoes.