I LOVE adding chilli to meatballs because it gives the whole dish a kick! And you can really add anything you fancy to these (and the sauce), it’s so simple. A filling, hearty dish!

SERVES 4 (16 MEATBALLS)- PREP/COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR

Ingredients (meatballs):

• 500g beef mince
• 2 small white onions, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 small red chillies (or more if you like spicy! or none if you prefer no heat), finely chopped
• 1 egg
• handful of fresh parsley, or 2tsp dried parsley
• 2tbsp breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper to season

Ingredients (tomato sauce):

• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• (optional) 1tbsp red pepper paste
• 1 carton of passata
• salt and pepper
• dash of balsamic vinegar
• 1 beef stock cube
• 2tsp sugar
• fresh basil, roughly chopped
• olive oil for frying

Method:

1. Begin by preparing the meatballs so that they can chill for at least 30 mins in the fridge. In a large bowl, bind all the ingredients listed for the meatballs. Spoons don’t really help much here, better to get stuck in with your hands so that the mixture is properly mixed together (gloves are recommended!).
2. Then separate the mixture evenly to roll into meatballs. The amount you produce will depend on how big you make them, but my mixture made about 16.
3. Set aside on a plate in the fridge. You can either prepare the sauce whilst these are chilling, or wait and just use the same pan to brown the meatballs and create the sauce. In either instance, the meatballs will need to be browned off first and then kept to one side.
4. For the sauce, in a lidded saucepan, over a low to medium heat- and with a glug of olive oil- sweat the red onion for about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic for a further 3 minutes. If you’re using red pepper paste, add this and give everything a good stir.
5. Add the passata, all the other sauce ingredients except the fresh basil. and the meatballs back to the pan (with whatever resting juices have formed).Give the sauce a proper mix, bring to the boil, then reduce to simmer with a lid on the pan.
6. Let everything cook for at least 30 minutes to ensure the meat is fully cooked through. If you want less sauce, remove the lid and let it reduce for 10 mins (just be careful because the sauce may spit!).
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper For the last few minutes of cooking, add the fresh basil. If you add it in too soon, it cooks down too much and loses its fresh flavour.
8. And voila! I like to serve over fresh spaghetti, with a generous shaving of parmesan and a little sprinkling of parsley. But this tastes just a delicious with fluffy rice, or cous-cous if you prefer.