Of course you can buy meatballs but it's always better and less expensive to make your own. As this is a recipe for the BBC where I have to keep ingredients to under £10 I have used a combination of beef and pork but you can do a lamb beef combination.Alternatively, you can buy ready made meatballs.Serve with orzo and bulgur wheat
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Ingredients
- 400 g beef mince
- 200 g pork mince
- 1 red onion grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 80 g breadcrumbs
- 1 egg beaten
- 10 fresh mint leaves finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 500 g passata
- 200 ml red wine
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp dry oregano
- 1 tsp dry chilli flakes
- 4 tbsp honey
- parsley and mint to serve
Instructions
Meatballs
- Put all the meatball ingredients in a bowl along with a good grinding of black pepper and mix with your hands until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour as this makes it easier to mould the balls
- Roll the mixture into fat 20 balls or 30 smaller ones and freeze what you don't use. Preheat the oven to 150C fan.
Sauce
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and brown the meatballs on all sides. remove to a plate and drain excess oil from the pan. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, passata and red wine with 1 tsp of salt. scrape any meaty bits left on the bottom of the pan.
- Add cinnamon, oregano, chilli and honey, give everything a good stir then pour the sauce into a roasting tin or baking dish. Nestle the browned meatballs in the sauce, cover and bake for 1 hour.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes, sprinkle with fresh mint and parsley.
Nutrition
Calories: 522kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 23gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 99mgSodium: 876mgPotassium: 981mgFiber: 5gSugar: 21gVitamin A: 704IUVitamin C: 18mgCalcium: 123mgIron: 6mg
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