Tomato Red Sauce with Meat Balls

This is the very basic way of making home-made red (tomato) sauce for stocking. In order to feed my Italian descent husband, I make a batch of red sauce bi-weekly, usually on Sunday (so called Sunday sauce). We'd eat freshly made sauce with meatball over spaghetti or ravioli. Then I separate the left-over meatballs from sauce. I keep a jar of sauce in a fridge, and another jar in a freezer. A jar stored in a fridge can be used for a quick pasta dish during the week. The left-over meatballs can be used to make meatball sandwich for lunch. I sometime add italian sausage, chicken on bones, or pork ribs to the sauce to give a richer flavor. Ideally, you want to cook the sauce at least 3 hours.

The"Red Sauce" ~ basic tomato sauce 

• 3 large cans of peeled tomatoes (I used 3-35oz cans)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, shredded or grated
• 4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• a few bay leaves
• about 1/5 a can of water, to clean the inside of each can and add it to the sauce
• Red wine (optional)

Meatballs 

• 1lb ground meat (I used pork, beef, veal mix)
• 1 egg
• bread crumb
• milk
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• dried oregano
• nutmeg
• dried red pepper 
• black pepper and salt
• a dash of worcestershire sauce
• grated parmesan cheese

-----------

to make about 10 servings

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed pot, sauté chopped garlic and onion in low/med heat. 
2. When onion looks golden and fragrant, add carrots and bay leaves, cook for few more minutes.
3. Open cans and add all the contents to the pot, clean the inside of each can with water, and add it to the pot as well. Bring it to boil with high heat, uncovered.
4. Once boiling, scoop out the foamy scums on the surface, lower the heat.
5. After 30 min of so, smash the tomatoes with potato masher, continue cooking in low heat.
6. Make meatballs - In a large bowl, let the bread crumbs soak in cold milk. When the bread crumbs get fluffy, add the rest of ingredients, mix well until it gets sticky. Let it sit.
7. After 1-2 hours, throw in meatballs, cook another 1 hour or so. Add red wine. (optional)
8. When the sauce reaches to your preferable thickness, stop the heat and serve over your favorite pasta, topped with chopped fresh parsley or basil, and grated parmesan cheese. 

You can use the red/tomato sauce to make dishes like:

• pizza 
• tortilla soup
• chili con carne
• lasagna