Remember when I said I wasn’t a fan of red sauce? Can I please correct myself and say that I like my homemade red sauce? I think I can go ahead and make that edit. It might be bragging, but I have to say that I am beginning to really love my own tomato sauce. That being said, I find myself trying to come up with excuses to make it. Oh, I really need to practice making meatballs. Guess I’ll have to make up a batch of marinara. In all seriousness, these sandwiches were messy, drippy and delicious and a fine project for meatball practice, for those of you who need it, like me ;)
Ingredients:
1 recipe marinara sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 egg – beaten
6 oz. shredded parmesan cheese
Sandwich rolls
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
After you’ve gotten your marinara all set in a saucepan, preheat your oven to 425-degrees.
In a large bowl, combine both ground meats, egg, bread crumbs, grated parmesan and Worcestershire sauce.
Work together lightly with your hands. DO NOT MASH! You want your meatballs to be fluffy and edible, not be able to break windows.
Form them by patting them. Do not roll them around in your hands, just gently shape them. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until there is no more pink in the center. After they’ve cooked, remove them from the oven and place them directly into your marinara sauce.
While they are soaking up that delicious sauce, in a small bowl melt 2 Tbsp. of butter with 1 Tbsp. of chopped garlic and set aside.
Turn your broiler on low (if you have that setting, if you only have one broiler setting, just keep a very close eye on your sandwiches).
Open your sandwich rolls and spread with the melted butter and garlic mixture. Place under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
Scoop 3-4 meatballs onto your rolls with some sauce. Try to cover both sides of the bun with sauce because you will be placing them under the broiler again to melt the cheese and you don’t want to over-brown them.
Top with the shredded parmesan cheese.
Place back under the broiler until the cheese has melted.
There is really no neat way to eat this. You probably could eat it with a knife and fork, if you’re a big baby.
