Sinatra's Meatball Sandwich

Nif's Note:

Ol' Blue Eyes liked the meatball sandwich apparently! These sandwiches sound like they were huge - the meatballs each have a quarter pound of meat in them! Please take it easy on me with the ratings. I just shared the recipe, I didn't make it! This would be great on spaghetti as well. I got this from Gloria Pitzer's website. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 4.0 very la ...

Meatballs

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 ½ lbs ground beef
• ½ lb ground pork

Sauce

• ¼ cup onion , chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes , broken up
• 1 lb tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons parsley
• salt , to taste
• 1 ½ teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 lb ground beef

Bread and Topping

• 4 French bread , loaves
• 1 cup Italian cheese , grated (mozzarella?)
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese , grated

Directions:

1. MEATBALLS: In a mixing bowl, mix eggs and water together. Add salt, bread crumbs, pepper, and garlic to egg mixture and let stand for five minutes. Combine beef, pork, and cheese with bread mixture and mix thoroughly. Shape into 16 balls. Fry on both sides in olive oil over medium heat.
2. SAUCE: Cook and stir onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, parsley, salt, oregano and basil. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered 1 to 1-1/2 hours. When sauce is almost finished simmering, brown ground beef in separate skillet, drain off fat, and stir into sauce. Simmer another 20 minutes.
3. CONSTRUCTING THE SANDWICH: Put 4 meatballs in each french bread loaf, add sauce, then cheese on top, dividing ingredients evenly. (PLEASE NOTE: Do not use too much sauce or sandwiches will be soggy.) Wrap each sandwich in foil and bake at 350º until cheese melts.