Dad’s Amazing Spaghetti Sauce

This is my family’s very favorite recipe of my father’s. He was always the cook in our family (luckily I picked it up from him!). This is also the only recipe my mother makes, as she dislikes cooking. This is what I request he make every year for my birthday, it’s so filling and warm and delicious.

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: A bunch

Prep Time: 15 minutes   Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours  

Ingredients

1 lb Italian sausage
1 lb ground beef
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
Italian style breadcrumbs
1 egg
grated Parmesan cheese
fresh parsley
pinch dried red chili pepper flakes
pinch dried oregano
fresh/frozen basil

Directions

Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, Italian style breadcrumbs (anywhere from 1/2 to 1 cup, or however much you want to stretch the meat), same with the Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. I like about 1/4 c. Form into meatballs in the size of your liking, I do about 1-inch.

Bake for ten minutes, or however long enough it takes for the meatballs to just hold together and become slightly browned.

Sauce:

Chop the sausage and brown it in a large, heavy pot. Add the chopped onion, green pepper, dried red chili pepper flakes and garlic.

Cook about 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Spoon off excess fat from sausage.

Add the can of tomato sauce and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Then add the crushed tomatoes, and the diced tomatoes. I like to smash another couple cloves of garlic and let them cook along with the sauce (kind of like a bay leaf, I remove it later).

The meatballs go into the pot next. Let simmer for 1 hour. Add the dried oregano and fresh basil (just a few leaves) last, stir it in and let simmer for another few minutes.

Serves I don’t know, a ton of people.

I don’t season it with salt really, just a little bit, because the sausage and the Parmesan is quite salty.

Serve with hot cooked pasta of your choice.

Categories: Beef, Kid-Friendly, Main Dish, Old-Fashioned, Pasta, Pork

Tags: Italian

Submitted by: lindsay on January 17, 2011