Italian meatballs in a tomato sauce.

  I looked up a number of recipes   for the tomato sauce and            found, as usual, there were    some differences but a lot of      common ingredients. Escoffier    uses veal stock but no wine, sugo  al pomodoro adds wine and  different herbs. Frito looks like  the base of all of them, so I  started with that but added    celery and anchovies for that      umami taste.  

 My ingredients; at least a couple of kilos of vine tomatoes, olive oil, onion, half a stick of celery, dried oregano and basil, bay leaf, garlic and half a tin of anchovy fillets.

Fry the onion until it starts to colour, roughly chop the tomatoes, finely chop celery and garlic and add to onions. crush and bring to simmer. Add herbs and anchovy. Use potato masher to reduce to a finer pulp and simmer for at least half an hour. Add a splash of water if it's looking too dry. 

At this stage you can either whizz the mix for a thick sauce or force through a sieve for a finer product. Adjust consistency by adding a bit of water or simmering to reduce.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

  The meat balls are a mix of    equal quantities of beef and        pork mince flavoured with fried  onion, parmesan, dried parsley, a  quick scratch of nutmeg  and  salt and pepper. The mix is  lightened with breadcrumbs and  bound with a beaten egg.

 Shape into balls about 40mm    diameter, a bit smaller than a  golf  ball. 

  Fry the meatball in batches to  get them browned off and drop  into the sauce.

 Simmer for at least 45 mins to  soften meat and and enhance  tomato taste.

  (In this pic the sauce looks         quite brown, but its actually a     vibrant red)

  Serve on tagliatelli with a    gradely  scratch of parmesan    cheese.