My husband used to joke that I was a great cook as long as I did not try to used a recipe. Unfortunately, he was right to some extent. I have made a few errors reading a recipe and do much better cooking (not baking or candy making) when I do not use a recipe and rely on instinct (after all, that is how my mother and grandmothers cooked).
Thus, it was not unusual that I set out to make spaghetti and meatballs for the first time with out consulting any type of recipe. The result was another mistake, but this mistake was (like many mistakes are) a great discovery. My “mistake” resulted in the best meatball sandwiches I had ever eaten.
So, what was my “mistake?” I made too many meatballs for too little sauce.
The recipes do make great spaghetti and meatballs. However, the meatball recipe either needs reduced by half or the sauce recipe need multiplied to have enough sauce to coat the spaghetti.
To make the meatball sandwiches, I saute sliced mushrooms in the butter and oil mixture in one half of the skillet when the onions and peppers are almost done. I remove the mushrooms and set aside.
After the meatballs and sauce are combined, I let the meatballs soak in the sauce for a while over very low heat. Then, I split a hoagie or sub roll, add meatballs, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese. Place on a baking sheet under broiler (on low) for just a couple of minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. Yum!
