To begin, gather all your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table. I like to use small prep bowls when I have so many ingredients that I'm working with, to keep everything straight in my head.
Prepare the Ingredients
Using a Chef's knife and cutting board, dice the sweet onion. Slice and chop the mushrooms. Peel and mince the garlic.
Place whole tomatoes in a large bowl and crush them with your hands until there are no longer any large pieces. (My grandchildren love to help with this part.)
If using fresh herbs, chop the fresh parsley and basil.
Prepare the Sauce
In a large saucepan, saute the prepared onions, mushrooms, and garlic in butter and olive oil until tender.
Add in crushed tomatoes, dry red wine, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, bay leaf, parsley, basil, dried oregano, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir together. Bring the sauce to a boil, and then cover and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Toward the end of the cooking time, I will sometimes use an immersion blender in the sauce to create a smooth sauce. Be sure to remove the bay leaf before blending.
Make the Meatballs
While the sauce is cooking, prepare the Mighty Meatballs! Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the lean hamburger, ground sausage, Italian-seasoned bread crumbs, grated Parmesan cheese, large egg, dried minced onion, and Italian herb seasoning. Mix well. I usually start out with a wooden spoon and then move to mixing it all together with my hands. (Again, kids love this part, so be sure to involve them in this part!)
Roll the mixture into balls the size of golf balls. A muffin scoop works well for this measurement. I can usually get around 10-12 meatballs from this recipe.
Place meatballs in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes until done.
Carefully spoon the meatballs into the red sauce and allow to simmer for 30 minutes together to infuse the flavors.
While the sauce finishes, prepare your favorite dried spaghetti according to package instructions or double my Homemade Pasta Recipe Here.
To Serve
Serve family-style by placing Mighty Meatballs in a bowl.
Using pasta tongs, remove the pasta from the water and transfer it to the sauce. Carefully mix together to sauce the pasta. Place pasta and sauce in a second bowl.
Serve meatballs over the spaghetti sauce and pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and bread sticks. Serves 8-10.
Notes
*Unless otherwise indicated, all butter on this recipe site is salted.**Wine Recommendation: Louis Jadot Beaujolais Village