Meat Balls and Spaghetti
My mother was a wonderful cook, and this is one of her go to mid-week meals. However, with little effort can be dressed up for friends you can easily convert this recipe if your guests are gluten free, so no one has to miss out. This beauty of this meal can be prepared and cooked from scratch within 45 minutes.
For the meatballs, This recipe serves 6-8 people and freezes well.
1 kilo minced meat, you can choose beef, turkey, chicken, or lamb.
1 large onion peeled.
½ cup parsley
½ cup coriander
2 cloves of garlic
2 eggs beaten.
¾ cup of breadcrumbs, I use gluten free bread, but you can use any bread
crumbs, matzo meal, or cornflakes ground down.
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon good quality salt
1 pinch cinnamon (it brings out the meat flavour)
½ teaspoon baking powder this helps keep the meatballs light and fluffy
For a quick and easy tomato sauce
1 onion diced.
1 leek diced.
3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon oregano (dried works)
½ teaspoon chili flakes
1 large tin crushed tomatoes
¾ litre passata
½ cup wine
I carrot chopped.
2 stalks celery chopped.
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ dessert spoon oil
1 stock cube (optional)
To make meat balls.
Place the meat in a bowl, add the eggs. salt, pepper & baking powder. Place the bread, parsley, onion, garlic, coriander in a food processor and pulse till fine. Then add the bread and onion mix to the meat, mix well.
Rinse your hands under cold water and make into meat balls (you need them to be medium size)
Place the meat balls into the fridge to chill while you make the sauce.
To make the sauce
Heat the oil in a thick bottom pot.
Add the onion leeks, carrots, garlic, and celery stir and cook on a medium heat for 3-5 minutes or till onions are translucent.
Add all the other ingredients, bring to the boil then turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes, with a lid on the pot.
Check the flavour and adjust to taste. (If you like a smooth sauce, you can now blend it with a hand blender.)
To cook the meat balls
Add the meatballs to the pot and stir gently into the sauce. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring very gently a couple of times.
Cook your pasta.
You will need 1 packet of your favourite spaghetti you can use regular, wholemeal, or gluten free and follow the instruction on packet to cook.
To serve you can either mix you sauce and meat balls to the spaghetti and mix, although personally I prefer to place the meatballs and sauce on top of the spaghetti in the individual serving bowl.
To dress this up for guests, serve with a green salad, garlic bread, and a glass of your favourite wine!
Enjoy.