One of the most asked-for recipes in our house. A little more involved than a simple bolognaise but a simple mid-week meal that ticks all the boxes. To add more veg to the recipe, grate a courgette into the sauce and cook down before re-adding the meatballs.
Meatballs with Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 500 g minced beef
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp mixed herbs
- 1 tsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 carton passata
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 vegetable stock cube
Instructions
- Remove the mince from the fridge 20 minutes before cooking to bring it to room temperature. Alternatively warm briefly in a bowl of Luke-warm water.
- Place the mince in a mixing bowl along with the garlic powder, mixed herbs and tomato puree. Season with salt and pepper.
- Using your hands, mix together the mince and herbs to thoroughly combine all the ingredients. Roll the flavoured mince into meatballs slightly smaller than golf balls.
- In a heavy-based frying pan, heat the olive oil before adding the meatballs turning them regularly to brown all over.
- Once browned all over, remove the meatballs to a plate with a slotted spoon leaving the cooking juices in the pan.
- In the cooking juices, gently fry the onion until softened.
- Once the onion is softened, add the carton of passata along with the Worcestershire sauce. Crumble over the stock cube and stir into the tomato sauce.
- Return the meatballs to the pan, cover and simmer until they are cooked through.
- Serve the meatballs, drizzled with the sauce on top of a pile of spaghetti or our boys' favourite – linguine.