Feeding small groups of people during the pandemic is a problem.

For a recent fundraiser, I decided to make meatballs and red sauce. As I learned long ago, everyone’s favorite “ethnic” food is Italian and, even though I have not a whit of Italian blood, I make lots of foods from Italy.

So, the question was: how could I make sauce and meatballs at home, get it into a slow cooker, get it plugged in outside our headquarters, and allow people to get their own portions without using a ladle, or big spoons and giant forks, because of double dipping? The answer, I decided, was toothpicks and a lot more meatballs than sauce.

I make a killer marinara that is ready by the time pasta is al dente and wondered if it would hold long enough for the tiny meatballs to cook thoroughly. They did. The other problem was getting the meatballs tender enough so they were soft but still tasty. They were.

I used a new recipe that I found on the internet, once again from a website called The Kitchn. I doubled the recipe, made the meatballs smaller and used panko instead of bread crumbs. They were incredibly good, and the sauce made the meatballs so much better than had I roasted them in the oven.

One problem: they were so tender that the plastic toothpicks turned the balls almost into shards. As it turned out, I wound up using a fork to put them on small paper plates.

When I got home, I had some left in the fridge so I boiled a small pot with ditalini (tiny pasta cylinders) and realized that the sauce may have been the best “meat sauce” ever.

Below is the new recipe for meatballs, followed by quick red sauce, which I use with most all of my red sauce recipes, although the herbs, spices, a bit of vodka (for vodka sauce) and a bit of heavy cream changes depending what I have on hand. That sauce recipe is great when making lasagna or chicken parm.

Meatballs

Adapted from Emma Christensen, thekitchn.com, August 2020

Makes about 40 1-inch meatballs

1 cup fine, dried breadcrumbs (I use panko)

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

3 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 to 2½ pounds ground meat (I used ground beef, or a mix of pork and beef)

1 cup freshly chopped onion (or grated on the large holes of a box grater)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Put milk and breadcrumbs in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside while preparing rest of the meatball mixture. Breadcrumbs will absorb the milk and become soggy.

Whisk egg, salt, pepper, parmesan and parsley. Add ground meat and use your hands to thoroughly mix together. Add the onions, garlic and soaked bread. Mix them thoroughly together with your fingers. Try not to overwork the meat; pinch the meat between your fingers rather than kneading them.

Form the meatballs, again gently. I then take the meatballs into the simmering sauce and cook them for at least 45 minutes, stirring every ten minutes or so.

Perfect Marinara Sauce

Serves at least 8 to 10 people; sauce freezes beautifully with meatballs or alone

1 cup chopped onions

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

2 to 3 28-ounce cans good canned tomatoes (I use only Muir Glen)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a very large skillet or a Dutch oven, saute the onions and garlic over low heat, until the vegetables are soft and translucent, but not browned. Add the canned tomatoes (I buy whole canned tomatoes and puree them quickly before adding them into the pot). Bring to a nearly bubbling boil, Add salt and pepper to taste. You can simmer the sauce for just a few minutes, or add meatballs or sausage for up to an hour or a little less, until the meat is done. Stir every five or 10 minutes.

On the Side

I use a fair amount of black pepper and, a long time ago, I was told never to use already ground black pepper because it, like other spices, loses potency. So I grind the pepper for every recipe, a bit of a pain.

Someone gave me a small 20-gram bottle with a grinder on the bottle itself. I used it up in about four months and decided I needed another. But I saw I could use that bottle itself and add whole pepper to it again. And it seems to grind just the right amount I like.

Since buying a pepper grinder can cost anywhere from $20 to $100, and they do not last forever, this is a real short-cut for me in my kitchen.

Oryx black pepper grinder

Available on Amazon

Lee White lives in Groton. She can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.