Tony's Meat Balls & Spaghetti
Meat Balls
1 lb ground lean meat (½ beef - ½ pork)
1 cup milk
½ cup cracker meal (or 10 crackers)
3 eggs (well beaten)
1 Tablespoon parsley (chopped)
½ cup chopped green onion tops
¼ cup grated Romano cheese
Tony's Creole Seasoning (or salt & pepper)
1 cup olive oil
To make meat balls add to meat: cracker meal, eggs, parsley, onion tops cheese, seasoning, and enough milk to make a soft mixture. Wet hands with water and roll into 10 very soft meat balls (add water to mixture if it's not soft enough). Fry in olive oil in heavy Dutch oven until brown. Remove from pot and set aside.
Note: To make tender meat balls be sure you add enough milk or water to make the meat balls barely hold their shape.
Sauce
2 cans tomato paste
1 large chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
½ bell pepper
1 T sugar
1 basil leaf
10 or more anise seeds to taste (faint)
Tony's Creole Seasoning (or salt & pepper)
In the same Dutch oven, add to the olive oil, the chopped onion, garlic, bell pepper and sauté until brown. Add the tomato paste and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the sugar, basil and anise with enough water to cook down to the right consistency (about 1 quart). Cook 3 hours then add meat balls and cook slowly another 2 hours (use judgment). Bring seasoning up to taste, skim off excess fat, pour over spaghetti and serve.
Spaghetti boiled in hot, salted chicken broth does wonders for your spaghetti dish.