Mama Mia! World's Best Spaghetti and Meatballs

Buon giorno! I have a real taste treat that you're going to flip for.  You'll throw away all your other spaghetti sauce and meatball recipes once you try this. I did. My daughter turned me onto a similar recipe a few years ago. I've made a couple changes and added the best yummy meatballs to make it even more special. Both are wonderfully spiced as written in the recipe so don't hold back. A dear true Italian friend, Lu taught me years ago to always "fry" your tomato paste a few minutes before adding the other wet ingredients. She said true Italians never use "raw" tomato paste in their cooking. It adds a depth to your sauce. Lu, if you're reading this from heaven, ciao!

For browning the meats, have you seen this Mix 'n Choptool from Pampered Chef? It makes light work of breaking up meat for cooking. Even the men in the family freak out if they can't find their "meat tool".  I ordered mine on a recommendation and love it! Great gift idea for 10 bucks. Speaking of breaking up the meat, in general I'm kinda' of a "if less if good, then more would be better" girl. Don't do it. I've done it and it makes things mushy. You gotta' know when to stop.

Also, you know to never cook with a wine that you wouldn't drink, right? My parents weren't wine drinkers so I didn't grow up cooking with wine. But lo and behold, there isn't hardly anything that a good wine doesn't make better. And now I cook with it too. :)  Any decent red wine will do. I've used cabernet and merlot and like both those. Use your favorite robust red.