Spicy meatballs in bolognese sauce
1 hour 20 min
Meatballs in tomato sauce served over fresh pasta and topped with cheese, perfect comfort food, serve with my fresh versatile easy bread rolls (see tip).
18 people made this
Ingredients
Makes: 16 meatballs
- For the meatballs
- 500g beef mince
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 1 tablespoon oil
- For the sauce
- 2 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 2 handfuls torn fresh basil leaves
- 1 (400g) tin tomatoes
- 1 beef or veg stock cube
- 125ml boiling water
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- grated Parmesan cheese, to taste (optional)
- 400g fresh pasta, of your choice
Method
Prep:30min ›
Cook:50min ›
Ready in:1hr20min
- Make the meatballs first. Put the meat in a large bowl, break it up with a fork. Add egg, herbs, chilli if using and flour, mix well.
- Take some meat mixture the size of a tennis ball, roll gently, (put some oil on your hands as can be sticky), and make 16 meatballs.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium high heat and fry 8 at a time, until brown on all sides; remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Set aside.
- For the sauce, fry the bacon in the oil from the meatballs, add onions and garlic, stirring well to prevent burning. Add carrots and peppers, and cook until soft. Stir in the purée, basil, tin tomatoes and stock made with 125ml of boiling water; season with black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add the meatballs, bring back to the boil then cover and simmer for a further 10 minutes, or until the meatballs are no longer pink in the centre.
- Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the instructions on the packet or until al dente. Drain.
- Serve the meatballs over cooked pasta, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if using and bread rolls to mop up the juices.
For the meatballs:
For the sauce:
Tip
If there are leftovers, you can add a jar of shop bought ragú, mix in some pasta, a bit more torn up fresh basil, mix with some strong mature grated Cheddar, place in a large rectangular dish, sprinkle over some more cheese, bake at 200 C / 180 C fan / Gas 6 for about 25 minutes until golden brown.
Versatile easy bread rolls
Best served with my recipe for Versatile easy bread rolls.
Meat
Instead of doing all beef mince, you can do a mixture of minced beef and minced pork.
