Melissa's Marinara with Meatballs

YUM! David and Alex and I made some pasta last night with meatballs and hot italian sausage and it was delectable.

for the meatballs:
• 1 lb. ground beef ( I used grass-fed from Whole Foods)
• 2 slices white bread (wheat is fine, but nothing nothing crusty- anything pre-sliced in a bag is good- eek!)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
• a handfull of chopped basil
• a handful of breadcrumbs
• about 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt and pepper


Soak the bread in the milk until soggy, add everything else, mix with your hands and form into balls. Brown outside in a frying pan before dropping into sauce to cook the rest of the way.

for the sauce:
• as many fresh tomatoes as you can get- any kind. I used Early girls and cherry tomatoes.
• 2 onions, chopped coarsely
• many cloves of garlic
• a handful of chopped basil
• a bay leaf
• a splash of red wine (optional)
• meatballs and sausage (optional)

Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaf. Let cook until tomatoes break apart and it starts to look like a sauce. At any point you can add wine, meatballs, and sausages. make sure they cook through all the way!