In large bowl, combine beef chuck, veal, pork, bread crumbs, garlic, pepper, cheese, eggs, milk, basil and parsley.  Mix well.  With moistened hands, shape mixture into meatballs 1.5 inches in diameter.  Preheat family skillet for 3 minutes over medium heat. Sauté meatballs in extra virgin olive oil (just enough at a time to cover bottom of skillet) until evenly browned.  Remove as they brown and add to hot Spaghetti Sauce.  With meatballs in Spaghetti Sauce, simmer, uncovered, over low heat 45 to 60 minutes stirring every 3 minutes to prevent sticking until most of the water is evaporated from the sauce.

In a large stock pot, add 3 quarts of water and bring to a rolling boil.  Add spaghetti and cook 8 to10 minutes until al dente.  Remove spaghetti from pot into colander and drain well.

ITALIAN SPAGHETTI SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil                  1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped onion                         1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed                        1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 (2 lb. 3 oz.) can Italian                        2 tablespoons sugar.
   tomatoes, undrained                          2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 (6 oz. cans) tomato paste               26 oz. water (14 oz.) can plus 2 (6 oz.)  cans of water)
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves       2 (28 oz. ) cans tomato sauce

In 3-quart sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add onion and garlic: sauté for 5 minutes.  Add 6 oz. can tomato paste to onion garlic mixture and fill tomato paste can with water and stir to get all the tomato paste from inside can and add to the mixture with 1/2 teaspoon of oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil leaves and sprinkling of salt and black pepper and increase heat to medium and simmer for about 6 minutes stirring constantly.  Add Italian tomatoes with the juice and simmer 8 minutes.   Add the second 6 oz. can of tomato paste with 6 oz. can of water to mixture and simmer for another 10 minutes or more.  Stir every few minutes to prevent sticking to pan.  Add the 2 (28 oz.) cans of tomato sauce and 1/2 can (14 ozs.) of water to mixture and 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley  and 1 tablespoon sugar and mix well.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring and mix well.  Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours; stir every three to five minutes.  Adjust any seasonings as necessary before serving.

NOTES:  Above recipe obtained from Dr. Steiglitz, via our daughter Laura  Porter a couple decades ago.   I increased the amount of water,  dried oregano leaves and added 2 bay leafs (optional) and an additional 28 oz. can of tomato sauce.  I used one 28 oz. can of Italian tomatoes which basically had the Italian seasonings and probably were not true Italian tomatoes added to the sauce and cooked in layers instead of adding all the ingredients after the garlic and onions were tender as per the original recipe.  Serve with toss salad, home made garlic bread, wine of choice and grated Parmesan cheese.

This recipe is a labor of love and time consuming.  Don't cheat and get out a can or jar of spaghetti sauce and meatballs.  Certainly do give this recipe a try if you have not prepared an Authentic Italian Meatballs and Spaghetti dish.  I did not allow the extra water to cook from the sauce by leaving the pot covered while simmering but it was outstanding the same.  It is hard to break old habits!

Below sequence pixs taken along the way on 01-10-09.  Click on thumbnails for a larger view:

I hand ground the veal chops and pork chops since the super market did not have any ground veal or pork for sale and got out the little hand operated Chop Rite grinder that is several decades old.  I have a much larger electric meat grinder but figured the clean up would be less trouble with this one since only a pound or two of meat to grind up.  I also minced the fresh garlic with the kitchen knife instead of using a garlic press.  The smell emitted while chopping the garlic was heavenly! 

Our Anson County Southern way of making spaghetti is to have the meat cooked into the sauce instead of in meatball form but then you don't have spaghetti and meatballs.  This meal came out excellent and will do it again.  My bride assisted with the forming of the meat balls and used a small scoop to keep them more uniform.  The above meatball recipe yielded 29 1.5 inch diameter meatballs, however I did use more than 1/2 pound each of the veal and pork due to packaging and didn't want to waste or reuse it later.

Click on the garlic bread link for recipe and Instructions.

Bill aka Mickey Porter 01-10-09.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE