Italian Sausage Meatballs

1 lb 93% ground beef
1/3 lb Italian sausage
2 tbls chopped fresh basil
1 tbl chopped fresh oregano
1 clove of minced garlic
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tbls parmesan cheese
2 tbls chopped fresh parsley
1 egg
1/4 cup finely diced onion
salt and pepper

Combine everything well. Make small balls and broil them until brown and mostly cooked. Add to some tomato sauce and simmer for an hour or two. If not finishing them in sauce, bake the meatballs at 375 til cooked through.

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These are those meatballs I mentioned the other day. They were quite simple, but I just kind of threw them together so the measurements up top aren't too precise. I know some of you are probably shaking your heads at the 93% beef, but I've found that when you are mixing meats together and one is really fatty (like sausage) then using 93 works out well. The final product turns out more balanced, not greasy like if you used 85 and mixed it with sausage. These came out good, we made sandwiches with them, clearly. Heh. I also whipped up a simple tomato sauce, so why don't we start there.

First I browned up some onion. I like it nice and dark for sauce, I think it adds the best flavor. You might notice the large chunks of garlic. I didn't feel like mincing and I was planning on doing a slow, low cook for it anyway. The garlic gets soft and breaks up, eventually. Then I deglazed with maybe a cup of Merlot. Let that reduce till the booze smell was gone, then a little more to concentrate the flavors. Then I dumped in a large can (28 oz I think) of crushed tomatoes. Some basil and oregano and then it's just simmer for an hour or two. I like letting sauce simmer a long time, I find the end result is best that way. But there's nothing saying you have to do it like this if you want it faster or think it tastes fine as is. Now, meatballs. In here we've got all the stuff mentioned up top. I just mixed it up, by hand, and formed it into balls. Plopped them onto a pan and broiled them till browned. This way you can control how much of the fat from them goes into the sauce. But into the sauce is where they went. Now at this point I let them simmer for a couple more hours over very low heat, stirring frequently. See, I made this on my day off and I enjoy spending all day stirring things. I really do. But if you wanted to do this faster you could cut out a lot of simmering time. Next we just toasted some little rolls, I melted mozzarella on mine, and made sandwiches. Meatball sandwiches are the bomb. How about it kids, do you like meatballs? What kind? On pasta, in sandwiches, calzones or straight up, maybe with a toothpick?