Anne Burrell's Marinara Sauce and Meatballs

I watched the episode of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef where Anne Burrell made spaghetti and meatballs, and I just HAD to try it. It looked amazing. Actual results varied.

The meatballs were amazing. I really loved their flavor. The sauce is different that what I usually make, but A and I both really enjoyed it.

I made an enormous batch of both, because I like to freeze spaghetti sauce and use it as an easy dinner. Admittedly, I underestimated the amount of sauce I was going to make. Good thing we have a lot of storage space. With a sauce like this, it is important to buy quality ingredients, so it seemed a little expensive when I was shopping for them. I went to The Fresh Market, one of the more expensive grocery stores in town, because I knew I could get good quality parmesan, ground veal, and also San Marzano tomatoes. However, when I calculated the cost per serving, I was very pleased!

Cost for ingredients: $86.62
Cost per serving: $3.09

Marinara: The Ingredients














Olive Oil
Pancetta
Onions
Salt
Garlic
San Marzano tomatoes

First you want to take care of your chopping. Onions, garlic, pancetta. It helps to throw the pancetta in the freezer for a few minutes so it's a little more solid. The onions you want small dice. Same for the garlic. Due to my overzealous quadrupling of the original recipe and my lack of knife skills this took, well, awhile.

I find that if I wear my contacts when chopping onions, instead of my glasses, that they don't bother my eyes as much. However, I still kind of want these:




















http://www.surlatable.com/product/onion+goggles%2C+black (with+green+trim).do?keyword=goggles&sortby=ourPicks


FUN!

Back to the recipe. You really want to do all of your chopping first before you get anything going on the stove. This is a lesson I've started following more often and it really does make the cooking less stressful.




Here are my onion and garlic:

ONION!














GARLIC!













You also need to use a food mill to process the tomatoes. This was the surprise pain in the ass for this recipe. I received a food mill for my last birthday, which I initially planned to use when making chicken stock. However, this isthe first time I used it. I'm not sure if it's particular to my food mill or what, but it had a hard time squishing the tomatoes under the blade. It worked better when the mill was pretty full, and also when I cut the tomatoes a bit first (using a knife and working directly in the can so as to save the tomato juices). About six cans in I begged A to help me. Thank goodness he was willing. Thanks Buddy!

Still, it took FOREVER. And it was messy.
That said, because this is a smooth sauce instead of a chunky sauce, it did really make a difference. This kept all of seeds and the tougher parts of the tomatoes out of the sauce.





Now you are ready to start cooking!




Put your olive oil in a large pan, and then throw in the pancetta (medium-high heat). Cook for 4-5 minutes (according to the recipe--due to my huge quantity, I left it in a bit longer). Then throw your onions in, give them a good stir and let them cook for several minutes until they are translucent, but not brown.

Toss in your garlic, cook for another two minutes or so.

One of the things Anne Burrell really stresses is salting as you go--salt the onions when you put them in, keep adjusting as you taste while it cooks. This worked better for me than the traditional--add specified amount of salt, wait until it is done, then try to adjust spices. Interesting.

Add your tomatoes and salt again. Let the sauce cook for several hours.

After about 2 hours, I admitted to myself that I really want spices in my sauce. This is a very plain tomato sauce, and it just wasn't going to make me happy. I wish I had bought some fresh oregano or basil, but I hadn't. I tossed in a few tablespoons of Penzeys Italian Spice Mix, and was very happy with the result.

I think the sauce will reheat perfectly because it is a little thinner than the sauce I usually make. My usual sauce is a little too thick when I reheat it, and I end up adding a bit of water, so I think this will be the perfect consistency once reheated.

Overall, I like the recipe and look forward to enjoying the sauce over the next couple of months.

Meatballs to come...this took much longer than I expected!