Meatball Subs with Marinara Sauce

Emily's school has a hot lunch program in which, once a month, the students are given an opportunity to order & enjoy a meal from a local restaurant.  Sometimes it's pizza, other months have been wraps and sliders from another eatery.  In April it was Subway.  Emily opted for the meatball marinara, which she ordered the last time Subway was the restaurant of choice.  As we filled out the order form and she began raving about how much she loooovves these sandwiches, I commented that perhaps she could find a recipe and make her own.  This struck her as a novel idea, and two weeks ago she did just that.  This past week was uncommonly busy with other thing, we never got around to having Emily prepare a meal, and last weekend was busy....I regrettably never found (ok, made) the time to write.
In any case, meatballs marinara.  As easy, if mildly labour intensive as I suspected.  I thawed a couple packages of ground bison and stopped at the store for canned tomatoes, submarine rolls and spinach.  I even indulged in a bag of preshredded Italian blend cheese, a time saver.
Emily combined the meat with an eggs, minced garlic and a chopped onion. Her initial chop was rather coarse, so I rescued as  many bits as I could and ran them through my food chopper, then readded them.  She was annoyed, but I pointed out no one wants huge chunks of onion in their meatball.  Once everything was seasoned and well blended Emily shaped the meat into ping pong bal sized balls and arranged them on a baking sheet and baked for about 12 minutes.
While the meatballs were baking she made her marinara sauce.  We did find recipes on line that used bottled sauce, but there's no learning in that.  She combined garlic, tomatoes, parsley and oregano and simmered it all together, stirring in the meatballs once they were cooked.
We spooned meatballs and sauce into the submarine rolls and added the shredded cheese.  The original recipe also advised shredded fresh basil or arugula, I opted for spinach.
Emily had also made oven fries as a side dish.  Dinner was great, as always.  The next day I cooked spaghetti and reheated the sauce; just as delicious.

Meatball Subs

Meatballs:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef                             1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 large egg, beaten                                        2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup bread crumbs                                       1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped*

1/4 cup grated Parmesan                               salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.  Combine all the ingredients and mix well, without over mixing.  Divide meat into meatballs (the original recipe advises dividing the meat into 4, and then each quarter into 4 balls, we just made manageable sized meatballs)  Place, evenly spaced, on a non stick baking sheet and roast for about 12 minutes, until cooked through.

* We used about a tablespoon dried parsley, I was out of fresh

Marinara Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil                                     1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

4 cloves garlic, crushed & chopped                 1 -28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes           2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1- 14 ounce can chunky style crushed tomatoes 

salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a deep sauce pan, add garlic, and once it starts to sizzle add the herbs and crushed red pepper.  Allow to infuse for about 30 seconds then add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and simmer until meatballs are done.

Combine meatballs & sauce.  Top sub buns with meatballs, sauce, shredded cheese and  place under the broiler until the cheese is melted, add spinach/arugula/basil

Oven Fries: 

4 medium, white skinned potatoes, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges, tossed with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil & grill seasoning, or coarse salt & pepper.  Place on a non-stick baking sheet and roast 20 minutes, until just tender.  Stir after about 10 minutes to avoid sticking.