Spaghetti Sauce With Meatballs Like Old Spaghetti Factory's
Makes 1 gallon
MEATBALLS
11/4 pounds lean ground beef
1 egg
1/4 cup Italian-seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
SAUCE
3/4 pound hot Italian sausage, thickly sliced
5 (14.5-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes, with their juice
1 (15-ounce) can tomato puree
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 pound mushrooms, wiped clean and chopped
2 large ribs celery, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
11/2 teaspoons Italian herb seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
For the meatballs: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 15-1/2-by-10-1/2-inch jelly-roll pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
Using hands, mix all meatball ingredients thoroughly. Shape into 1-inch balls, arrange on pan, and bake until uniformly brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
For the sauce: Brown the sausages in a large heavy kettle over moderately high heat until most of the drippings cook out – 8 to 10 minutes; pour off drippings. Reduce heat to moderate, add the meatballs and all remaining sauce ingredients, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently, cover, and simmer very slowly 3 hours, stirring as needed to prevent sticking.
Cool mixture, ladle into freezer containers, date, label, and store in freezer.
-taken from signonsandiego.com