Lafalce Family Meatballs

• MEATBALLS
• 2 lbs ground round, 1/2 lb ground pork, 1/2 lb ground veal
• 1 cups Italian breadcrumbs--I use Progresso brand
• 1 cups grated Pecorino Romano cheese - (no substitutions here, the cheese is a key ingredient for flavor) Make sure you buy enough to grate onto the pasta at dinner time
• 1.5 cups cold water
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• MEATBALLS
• Put all ingredients in a LARGE bowl. Except the cold water. Start by adding 1/2 cup water, then knead/mix with your hands. MIX THOROUGHLY, AND I MEAN THOROUGHLY!! DON'T WHOOOS OUT on this procedure, mix until your hands hurt, this is a key step, and then it's time to make the meatballs. Take a small portion in your hands (you'll learn from experience how big you want to make each meatball) and pack it together into a meatball. It's like making a good snowball, toss it back & forth between your hands, squeezing it on each catch. (when you make the meatball and set it into the pan it should squoosh down just a little, not TOO MUCH. If the meatballs are too hard at this stage they'll be tough, if they're too mushy they'll fall apart while cooking in the sauce) When it's well formed and packed, place it in a greased baking pan (PAM spray or the like). Line them all up in the pan and repeat the process until the pan is full of meatballs. (For this amount of meat you'll need two

1. Sauce
2. 7 cans Red Gold whole peeled tomatoes
3. 2 small cans Contadina tomato paste
4. 1 large yellow onion (or 2 medium size will do)
5. 4 peeled cloves of fresh garlic-chopped finely
6. 6 tblsp olive oil
7. 4 good sized bay leaves
8. Salt & pepper to taste
9. 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
10. 1 tblsp thyme, rosemary, basil (fresh is always best.
11. Put your meat into the oven & start your tomato sauce.
12. Peel and quarter two medium onions or one large. Finely chop 4 cloves of garlic. In your blender put a quarter onion and a heaping teaspoon of tomato paste in the bottom. Add one can tomatoes & liquid to blender. Chop on highest speed for three seconds, repeat for another three seconds. That's it. That blender of sauce is done.
13. Now, add olive oil to large saucepot, just enough to cover the bottom evenly. Turn heat on high to heat up oil, don't overheat the oil till it's smoking. When the oil is hot then toss in the chopped garlic to brown it. DON'T BURN THE GARLIC, JUST GET IT GOLDEN BROWN. At that moment turn the heat down to low and pour in your first pitcher of sauce. Repeat the sauce procedure for each can of tomatoes you have. If the first pot fills up, stop; add your salt & pepper to taste, 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, a little rosemary, thyme and fresh basil if you have it, then ladle half of that sauce into the other pot. Finish your blenders of sauce and add equally to each pot until finished. Don't cover. Now add 2 bay leafs to each pot. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer.
14. Once you add the cooled meatballs & sausage, carefully stir each pot every 15 minutes for the next 2-3 hours. Keep the heat down to the lowest setting and just keep the sauce simmering at a low level so as not to burn. DON'T BURN THE SAUCE! Simmer low and stir often. Don't use too tall of a pot, that's a sure way to burn your sauce. Use a large Dutch oven type pot. Don't cover.

meatballs, ground round, italian breadcrumbs, romano cheese, cold water, parsley, egg, salt, pepper, garlic, meatballs, ingredients

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/lafalce-family-meatballs-50177719 (may not work)