Meatballs in a Tomato Sauce

A favourite in our house that I've been making since my son was a baby 18 years ago. Over the years I've changed it slightly and added a little chilli to make it for a more grown up palette, but feel free to exclude the chilli (or even add a little more if you prefer).

500g Minced beef

1 medium Onion, finely chopped

1tsp ground Garlic

1tsp dried Oregano

1tsp dried Mixed Herbs

1tsp Chilli powder

50g Breadcrumbs

1 Egg

2tbs Rapeseed oil

Sauce

1 Onion, roughly chopped

540g Passata sauce

2tbs Tomato purée

1tbs Balsamic vinegar

1tsp dried Oregano

1tsp dried Mixed Herbs

1tsp Sugar

1. In a blender, place your onion, Passata, tomato purée, balsamic vinegar, herbs & sugar.

2. Blitz all these together until smooth (alternatively you can put your sauce ingredients straight into your saucepan and use a stick blender).

3. Pour into a large saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cover with the lid whilst you make your meatballs.

4. In a large bowl, place your minced beef, onion, garlic, herbs, chilli, breadcrumbs and egg.

5. Mix together until thoroughly combined.

6. Form small balls (you should be able to get 30-40 out of this mixture).  I generally use a 15ml (tbs) measuring spoon to portion my mixture out before rolling them into balls and setting to one side.

7. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry your meatballs in batches of 8-10 until browned all over.  Don't add too many into the pan or they'll steam rather than brown.

8. Tip your browned meatballs into the sauce and gently shake the pan to submerge them.

9. Continue to fry the batches of meatballs until they're all browned and you've transferred them all into the sauce.

10. Simmer the sauce and meatballs, without the lid on, for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.  Try not to stir the meatballs as it may break them up, instead give the saucepan a shake every so often.

11. While your meatballs are cooking, you have time to bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook your spaghetti until 'al dente', then drain.

12. Serve the meatballs on a bed of spaghetti, sprinkled win some freshly grated Parmigiana Reggiano.

FREEZE: Once cooked, you can cool & freeze the sauce and meatballs for up to 3 months.  Allow to thoroughly defrost and then heat through gently in a saucepan until hot.  Serve with fresh pasta.

This is the perfect recipe to double up for another day's easy meal.