Meatballs!

The last time we made these meatballs and the corresponding sauce, we had a little bit of a problem with the spices. As you'll see from the recipe, Mario Batali suggests a tablespoon of red pepper flakes for the meatball mixture and a SECOND tablespoon for the tomato sauce. When we did that, together the meatballs and sauce were so spicy that all you tasted was heat -- and not the flavors with either. 


This time around, we cut WAAAAY back. We did a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for the meatballs, and none for the sauce. It was much better -- and (can you believe it) actually palatable! 

One of the dishes of baked meatballs.

Meatballs and sauce incorporated together

The final product!

We chose to have the meatballs as an open-faced sandwich, but you could easily serve them with pasta. 

Also - this version says to cook the meatballs in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. There's no way we did that. I think we cooked them in the oven for maybe another hour at most. I'll check my cookbook to see if the correct time is listed there, and post any updates. 


UPDATE: I checked the cookbook (Mario Batali's Molto Italiano). In the cookbook, you bring the tomato sauce and wine to a boil, add the meatballs, return to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.