Nonna's spaghetti sauce

This is the real deal, folks.   My grandmother was your typical Italian nonna - capable of cooking up a delicious meal for a small army. Here's her recipe for spaghetti sauce, it won't do you wrong.  Be forewarned though - this is a full morning of cooking.

Nonna's meatballs
1 lb gr beef (turkey is ok if you want)
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
1 egg
~1c bread crumbs (or if you are gluten-free like me, almond meal)
1/4c chopped fresh parsley
1/2c grated pecorino romano cheese

Mix, form into balls.  You can fry in olive oil or bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 400 - up to you, but frying is definitely the official Nonna way.  Meatballs should be just about done before they go into the sauce.  You can adjust the garlic, parsley and cheese based on your own tastes (more is sometimes better :) )

I tripled the recipe, so hence the three eggs! I used about 3lbs of beef.

Meatballs on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, ready to go.

Nonna's sauce
1/2 onion, chopped
3 large cans "kitchen ready" (ground, peeled) tomatoes
4 leaves Fresh basil
4 leaves Fresh mint

Saute the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil in a big stock pot/soup pan (I use my Le Creuset for this) until it softens.  Add the three cans of tomatoes (carefully, otherwise it will splatter), and the basil and mint.   Let simmer on low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.   After 1 hour, add 1/2c water and the meatballs.  Simmer for another hour on low.

If you like a little thicker sauce, you can simmer it for longer.   I usually let it go for longer than the 2 hours because it really helps the flavors.

At the same time as you add the meatballs, you can add braciole and Italian sausages (if you add sausages, boiled them first and then add).

Nonna's braciole
1.5-2 lbs flank steak
maybe 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese, chopped garlic (lots!), chopped mint/parsley, salt and pepper  - I have no exact measurements here, just estimate :)
You can also use fontina cheese instead or in addition to the romano

Take the flank steak and pound thin.

Take the rest of the ingredients and roll it into the thinned out flank steak - I put the mixture on one end, and then roll it up from there.   Tie in three places tightly with some cooking string (or any thin string).  You don't want the good stuff to fall out!

Sear on all sides until browned in a pan with a little olive oil.   Then add to the sauce.  If you are going to add braciole, I would definitely increase the simmer time for the sauce to at least 2 hours.  If you are using a Le Creuset enameled cast iron pan, you can put the pot in an oven at ~300 degrees for a few hours as well.  You want the flank steak to be tender, so the longer it cooks, the better.

Enjoy!