This dish is one of my personal favorites, and it’s one of the first dishes that I really made into my own recipe. Originally, this all started out as a pomodoro sauce recipe from one place, and a meatball recipe from a second source, a Food Network chef. Over the years, I’ve continually modified it and changed it on whims based solely on how I was feeling when the pot was on the heat. It’s pretty much because of my spaghetti and meatballs that I became less dependent on recipes, and more willing to trust my instinct when cooking. So, the recipe that I present here is only the most recent interpretation, and will no doubt change the next time I cook it. The recipe is rock solid, but what I want to show here is more of a technique that is almost foolproof.

The first part of the recipe is actually the meatballs. I was making a version of these meatballs years before I even attempted making my own homemade sauce. The meatballs were baked and placed in some jarred marinara or a sauce made from a McCormick spaghetti packet. It was always good, but was always lacking something. That something was fat. Baking the meatballs was good, and it preserved the moisture in the meat so they never dried out, but they never developed a nice brown crust on the outside and therefore never lived up to their true potential. Eventually, the meatballs moved from the oven to the stove top.

1 1/4 pounds ground meat (usually ground sirloin, but anything except for that 70/30 “Ground Beef”)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, a couple of handfuls

1/4 cup grated Parmesan, Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano cheese

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

Pinch (or more) of crushed red pepper

Salt and pepper

Lately, I’ve actually been grinding my own beef and chicken, and I decided to grind some chuck steak that I bought on the cheap from Sam’s. Once you’ve gathered all of the ingredients, mix them all together in a large bowl. The resulting mixture should be fairly firm, and hold its shape once you roll it into meatballs. If the mixture seems too loose, go ahead and add more bread crumbs. If it’s too thick, add a few teaspoons of water until you get the right consistency. Go ahead and make a tiny sampler meat patty and cook it in a small skillet so you can check your seasonings. Nothing sucks more than doing all this work and having bland meatballs. Trust me.

Sometimes I’ll do 8 LARGE meatballs, this time I did 36 tiny ones. Once they’re portioned out, place them back into the bowl, cover them, and place them in the fridge for at least a few hours- up to 12 hours. Ta Da!

Pro Tip: This recipe works equally well with ground chicken. Just use some additional bread crumbs and another egg. The chicken gives almost a lemony flavor to this dish.

Now that the meatballs are out of the way, on to to the Pomodoro sauce. Don’t let that word scare you, as it is pretty much marinara sauce. The main difference is that marinara sauce has chunks of tomatoes in it. When cooking a Pomodoro sauce, on the other hand, you would usually or run the tomatoes through a food mill to get all the seeds and skin out. The food mill gives the resulting tomato juice an almost creamy texture that you wouldn’t get from using crushed tomatoes. On to the recipe!

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 medium onions, chopped

7 – 10 garlic cloves, chopped

a pinch or two of red pepper flakes

2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes

If you can’t find San Marzano tomatoes, look harder. They are worth finding, trust me. But if you really, really can’t find them, or if you’re trying to spite God himself, you can use 2 28-ounce cans of whole, peeled tomatoes…jerkface.

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces (optional, but very good)

First go ahead and get your onions chopped, and start pre-heating a large pot to medium heat.

Go ahead and set those off aside and place a few tablespoons of olive oil in your preheated pot and start browning the meatballs in batches. Put a little bit of fresh olive oil in the pot after each batch.

Place the meatballs off aside for now, and place all of the onions into the pot. Add a pinch or two of salt, and some pepper. You’re not looking to get a lot of color on the onions, so if they start to brown turn your heat down. Your going to cook these for about 15 – 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Smash those garlic cloves, and toss that in for the last five minutes, along with some crushed red pepper flakes. While the onions are cooking, go ahead and run those tomatoes through a food mill. Yes, it is a lot of work, and yes, it requires a piece of kitchen equipment you probably either have never used, and don’t even have. It is totally worth it.

Once your onions are soft and translucent, and the garlic is fragrant, go ahead and add the chicken stock, and scrape all of those lovely brown bits left by the meatballs off of the bottom of the pot. After that is done, go ahead and add your tomato product. Add a healthy pinch of salt and add the meatballs back into the pot. If you want to add dried oregano and/or basil, now is the time. If you want to use fresh herbs instead or in addition too, save those until the end. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Now wait. This is the part that sucks. It’s going to smell amazing, but, you can’t have any for a MINIMUM of two hours.

If a thicker sauce is what you desire, go ahead and take off the lid for the last 30 minutes. If you are going to use any fresh herbs, go ahead and add them in at the last possible moment before serving. Serve on spaghetti and some fresh grated parmesan on top.