Meatballs And Gravy -- Campania Style!!

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 3 lbs ground beef
• 2 cups wet stale italian bread or 2 cups breadcrumbs (see instructions below)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2-1 cup milk (see instructions below)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf italian parsley or 2 tablespoons parsley flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cloves minced garlic or 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• olive oil or corn oil, for frying
• 2 (29 ounce) cans tomato puree
• 1 (29 ounce) can water
• 1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 1/8 cup red wine or 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 dash red pepper flakes, maybe (halt!! add no more spices!)

Recipe

• 1 it's preferable to use the stale bread rather than the bread crumbs.
• 2 break it up and soak it in warm tap water until is starts to soften.
• 3 squeeze it with your hands to get out excess water, then"smush" it with your fingers.
• 4 use the lesser amount of milk if using the wet stale bread.
• 5 use the greater amount if using the bread crumbs.
• 6 mix all the meatballs ingredients well.
• 7 form into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
• 8 slightly flatten each meatball.
• 9 brown very well in hot oil on both sides.
• 10 (can also be baked on an oiled pan in a 425 degree oven. need to be turned to brown both sides).
• 11 add the gravy ingredients to a large pot and add the browned meatballs.
• 12 bring to a gentle boil then simmer.
• 13 1 1/2 hours is probably enough, but the longer, the better.
• 14 even better heated over the next day.
• 15 *you can also add italian sausage to this.
• 16 brown it well in the same pan in which you've browned the meatballs then add to the gravy pot.
• 17 you need to probably simmer the sauce for at least 1 ½ hours if you add sausage to make sure the sausage is cooked through.