Palmini with Meatballs and Sausage

Every couple weeks I stop by the local butcher shop to pick up Italian sausages. It’s a great family run business, practicing whole animal butchery, and all the meat is locally sourced from family farms. This week I went big and picked up a pound of ground beef as well. Herbed ricotta meatballs, hot Italian sausage and a tasty tomato sauce served over palmini noodles hit the spot. A dollop of ricotta was added for decadence. This recipe is in development since I forgot to measure, oops. The meatballs were amazing. I fried the meatballs and sausage in a cast iron skillet. I sautéed onions and garlic in the pressure cooker, added 2 cans of crushed tomatoes with fresh basil, fresh parsley, salt, crushed red pepper, a bit of an Italian seasoning blend, and fennel seed. I added the browned meat and slapped the lid on. After the pressure came down I added more fresh herbs. My preference is a stovetop cooked sauce which simmers down. That reduction naturally thickens the sauce. The pressure cooker has it’s value for developing flavors quickly but lacks the reduction leaving the sauce thinner than I prefer. I’ll be dividing the sauce up for easy freezer meals.