Matzo Balls and Meatballs - Is the debate the same?

In the Jewish community there is great debate over matzo balls.

Perspective #1 - small, dense and golf ball like - my dad, aunt, brother and cousin B are in this camp.
Perspective #2 - Light, fluffy and baseball size - my mom, G and I camp here.

While making spaghetti and meatballs last week, per request of my daughter's friend, I started to wonder if Italian families had the same conversations/debates over meatballs. Does the same amount of sarcasm and venom rear its head on holidays in Italian homes? I am an American of Lithuanian decent and and my husband of German so we weren't able to answer the question in-house. I plan pursue this - are soft meatballs superior to hard??

Anyhow, I usually make meatballs with basil and sun dried tomatoes but felt like trying something new, something simple, something light and fluffy. Not knowing where to go I turned to Ina, after all, she cooks, clean, simple food. Sure enough.... I found a recipe that seemed too simple but what the hell, I decided to give it a try. I loved them and the funniest part of all is they were light and fluffy, not hard like my usual ones. Go figure! Everyone really enjoyed the meatballs with my red sauce, I will definitely make these again! And....there was plenty left to freeze, so a few weeks from now we can enjoy them again without the hassle of making them.

Ina's Meatballs

(I used all beef because no matter how many times I try ground pork I can't stand it!)

1/2 LB Ground Pork

1/2 LB Ground Beef

1 Cup fresh white bread crumbs

1/4 Cup dry bread crumbs
2 T chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated

2 t kosher salt (I thought this was a little much)

1/2 t pepper

1/4 t nutmeg

1 egg

Vegetable Oil

Olive Oil

Add all ingredients in a bowl with 3/4 Cup warm water. GENTLY mix with fork and shape into 2" balls. Add equal parts vegetable oil and olive oil and brown on all sides. Don't over crowd.
Once browned, I add to the sauce and finish cooking in the sauce.

I usually make marinara sauce but per the request of our guest I made meat sauce, yes, even though I was having meatballs they wanted meat sauce, Gotta love carnivores! I simply added 1/2 LB ground beef and 1/2 LB hot Italian sausage.

In the fall I buy a few bushels of Roma tomatoes. I bring them home, wash them and then slow roast them with onions, garlic, olive oil and kosher salt until they collapse. I freeze quart size bags of them, some whole, some pureed, and use all winter when I make sauce, chili etc....

Spaghetti Sauce

1 good size sweet onion

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 t hot pepper flakes

1 qt. tomatoes (You can use a combination of crushed and sauce)

1 t sugar

1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese

handful basil

salt

pepper

Saute onion in olive oil adding garlic and pepper flakes after a few minutes. Add tomato, sugar and Parmesan cooking 15 minutes on low. Add basil at the last minute and serve. Tastes like summer all winter long!