Assembling the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 200°C or 400°F
For the meatballs, combine in a large bowl everything but the bread, milk and water.
In a food processor, place all the bread torn up into small pieces and process into rather fine bread crumbs.
In another bowl place the bread crumbs and the milk and toss to distribute the liquid evenly.
Add this to the meat and mix in well.
After you add the bread crumbs you will have to judge how much water to add, the mixture should be soft but still be able to hold its shape. Too soft and the meat balls will flatten into patties in the oven. To hard and the meatballs will harden in the oven.
At this point it is a good idea to make a tiny patty and fry it to see if the seasoning (salt & pepper) is right. It will take a minute or two but I find its worth it.
Using an ice cream scoop or something like it measure out a meatball that are about 60gr or 2oz. the mixture should give you 28 to 30 smallish meatballs.

Place all the  meatballs into an oven proof dish, be sure that they have a little room around them and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Remove them from the oven.

Reduce the oven to 150°C or 300°F

Place the meatballs in another oven proof dish that will just hold them. Leaving behind any grease that has come out of them during the baking.

For the sauce:

Saute the chopped onion until it becomes translucent, add the garlic and saute for a moment more making sure not to burn the garlic.
In a large bowl pour in the tomato's add 1/2 cup of water. Then add the fried onions, garlic, and all the rest of the ingredients.
Stir well and pour over the meatballs.
Cover the dish really well (tightly) with some aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from the oven and serve as they are with a bit of the sauce or ---

Measure out 80-100 grams or 3 1/2 or 4 oz of dried spaghetti per person. Boil until cooked and serve with the meatballs on top with a little of the sauce.

Sprinkle with a little parmesan and a few sprigs of basil.

Notes:

This is a really good recipe and if you are not into spicy food you can leave out the chili but I never do, it adds a bit of zing to the dish.

It would seem when you are making these that there is just too much bread crumbs, but its the breadcrumbs that give the meatballs their really moist texture. Don't leave things out! Buy the parsely or oregano (dried) or fennel seeds if you don't have them.

Don't use dried breadcrumbs unless you are looking for hard little belly bombs that will bounce off the walls. They just don't seem to work.

I love this recipe for the taste of the meatballs but the sauce is wonderful. I get dinner for 2 and then at least 4 lunches for work. They taste better the day after or after they have been frozen. Keep some in the freeze for emergency food when company comes unexpectedly. Defrost by leaving them out on the counter. Do not warm in a microwave it will harden them up.

All the preparation for this takes about 45 minutes at the very most. Make them in the morning or the day before you want to use them.

Please let me know what you think about these - e-mail me.