You can buy readymade mini meatballs in supermarkets these days but making your own is more fun and tastier! You need about 6 small meatballs per person for this, but we have cut down the time for the overall recipe by using sofrito sauce in a jar and just adding a few bits to it to make it so much tastier. We have also added a little pasta in the form of broken up spaghetti, just to make the dish more filling if required. You don’t have to if you don’t want to!
Serves: 2 x 700ml food pots
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 75g quick cook spaghetti
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 250g lean beef mince
- 1 brown onion, chopped
- 1tsp dried oregano (½tsp fresh)
- 1tsp dried rosemary (½tsp fresh)
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 x 560ml jar of sofrito or passata
- 1 beef stock cube
- 175g frozen peas
Optional:
- treat yourself with a little parmesan on the top!
Seasoning to taste
Method:
- First, break your pasta into small pieces and cook as per manufacturer’s instructions. Rinse and drain, set aside, covered.
- Take a large bowl and place the mince, garlic and oregano into the bowl. Using your hands, thoroughly mix the ingredients.
- Using a chopping board, lightly dust with plain flour, then roll the mixture in your hands to form small balls. Put onto the floured board. The meatballs should be about 4cm in size. Roll in the flour to lightly coat.
- Take a wide frying pan and place the olive oil in to heat, over medium heat. When hot but not sizzling, place the meatballs into the pan. Fry until lightly browned all over. Remove and drain on kitchen paper and drain any excess fat from the pan.
- If needs be, add a little more olive oil to the pan, then soften the onions until translucent. Tip in the sofrito or passata and rosemary and season the sauce. Bring up to a simmer and add the meatballs. Cook for around 5 minutes until everything is cooked through.
- Add the pasta pieces and warm through. When you are ready, ladle into your food pots and top with parmesan shavings. Yum!
Nutritional Values:
Calories 286, Fat 11g, Saturates 4g, Carbohydrates 28g, Sugar 9g, Fibre 4g, Protein 20g, Salt 1.68g