Meatballs in tomato sauce – Polpette al sugo

For the tomato sauce-

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 garlic clove (whole, peeled)

1 onion (finely chopped)

Tin of finely chopped tomatoes or passata (depending on how smooth/chunky you like it)

Method

1. Pour some olive oil into a pot (roughly enough to cover the base) and place in the garlic clove. 

2. Gently heat the oil and garlic clove, taking care not to burn the garlic. 

3. Place the finely chopped onion in the pot with the garlic clove, and cook until it becomes soft and translucent. 

4. When the onion is soft, mix in the tomatoes. 

5. Fill the tomato tin (or jar, depending on what you’ve used) with the same amount of water and mix it in. 

6. Let the sauce slowly cook until thickened and reduced by about a third (roughly half an hour). 

For the meatballs-

Ingredients

Beef mince – around 500g

White bread (no crusts) – about 2 slices

Milk

1 onion

Parsley – a handful 

Parmiggiano Reggiano (grated, about two handfuls)

1 egg

Olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)

Nutmeg (a pinch)

Salt (to taste)

Breadcrumbs

Oil for frying 

Method

1. Place the bread in a bowl and cover with enough milk to soak it, but without there being any milk left over (the bread must soak it up). 

2. Place the onion, parsley, egg, olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth. 

3. In a big bowl, mix the beef, soaked bread, onion-parsley mix, nutmeg, parmesan and salt. I do this by hand, but you can use a spoon if you like. The ingredients must be completely combined and should form a soft dough-like mix. 

4. Take small amounts of the mixture and roll the meatballs by hand. I tend to do them around the size of a golf ball, but it’s up to you how big or small you like your balls. 

5. Roll the meatballs in breadcrumbs (enough to lightly coat them). 

6. Heat the oil in a shallow pan. There should be enough oil to go up to one-third/half of the meatballs (you will turn them during cooking).

7. Test that the oil is hot enough by throwing in a couple of breadcrumbs. If they sizzle then the oil is ready. 

8. Put the meatballs in the oil and fry until browned. Turn them over halfway through to get them brown on all sides. Try not to touch/turn them too much during cooking, they need to be still in the oil to really crisp up.

9. When brown on both sides, take them out and put them on a plate with some paper towel on it to soak up any excess oil. Open one up to test that it’s cooked.

10. Place the meatballs in the tomato sauce, and let them cook in there for 5-10 minutes.

11. Serve either with pasta or with some nice crusty white bread.