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Meatballs In A Winter Roasted Tomato Sauce

This is a great warm dinner for chilly nights. The roasted tomato sauce with the meatballs is delicious and a huge hit with the kids everytime. The perfect pasta meal for after school. 

Remember this sauce is so versatile so you could opt to make a big batch of it and freeze it to bring out and use for other dishes too. It goes great as a sauce for a hearty pasta dish or perfect as a dipping sauce for some fried calamari or fritto misto. 

Happy cooking!

Gill X

Preparation Time:
20 minutes
Cooking Time:
1 hour 10 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 500g beef mince
  • 3 large garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3 onions, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 stick celery, chopped
  • 1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 500g passata
  • 250ml red wine
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 30g basil leaves
  • 250g marscapone cheese
  • 400g Spaghetti
  • A little parmesan Cheese
  • salt and pepper

    Method: 

    1. Start by making the meatballs. Put the meat into a mixing bowl and add 1 finely chopped onion together with some salt and pepper. Mix together with your hands.
    1. Roll the mince into golf sized rounds and spread onto a large roasting tin. Drizzle with oil and coat the meatballs then roast for 25 minutes until browned. 
    1. To make the sauce, start by roasting the garlic cloves, remaning two onions, carrots and celery in a pot in the oven with the lid off for around 10-15 minutes. 
    1. Take the pan out the oven and mix then add in the glass of red wine, passata, tin of tomatoes and sugar. Put back in the oven and roast for a further 45 minutes. 
    1. Just before the sauce is ready to come out of the oven, cook your pasta according to packet instructions.  
    1. Remove sauce from the oven, add in the basil then using a hand blender, blend together all the ingredients.  Mix in the marscapone cheese and season with salt and pepper.
    1. Drain the pasta and return to the pan tossing in the meatballs and sauce. Top the meatballs with some parmesan cheese and finish with a few basil leaves.  

    NICKI'S TUPPENCEWORTH

    Meatballs are one of my favourite dinners.  I love everything about this meal - from squishing the meat (I like a teaspoon of mustard in mine), rolling the balls, and watching on as they brown beside a bubbling pot of tomato sauce, the whole process is so satisfying.

    I do think the trick to great meatballs is great Scotch beef so if you have time, make your way to one of the fantastic butchers or farm shops we have here in Perthshire.

    Please do send us your photographs and share your ideas with us. We'd love to use them in our new Perthshire gallery section. As always, tag them #PerthLoveFest and we'll scatter them around our own social media. 

    Happy Rolling,

    Nicki X

    PS This is a perfect Meal Makers dish for all you lovely people involved it cooking.