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Italian Style Meatballs and Spaghetti with Salad

Who doesn’t love meatballs? It’s a family favourite. This recipe is from the My Food Bag Classic bag, and has been eaten and declared delicious by thousands of families, so it’s sure to be a favourite with your family too.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Main
Servings 5
Calories 551 kcal
Dairy Free

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 250-300 g beef mince
  • 250-300 g pork mince
  • 1 egg whisked
  • 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese finely grated
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • tablespoons oregano chopped
  • 3 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper pinch

Tomato sauce

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 brown onion finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon oregano chopped
  • 700 g bottle tomato passata alternatively use 2 x 400g cans crushed Italian tomatoes
  • sugar pinch
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper pinch
  • ½ cup milk
  • 350 g spaghetti

Salad

  • 1 lettuce leaves torn
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber finely sliced
  • Dressing of your choice

To serve

  • 2-3 tablespoons parmesan cheese finely grated
  • 2 tablespoons parsley torn

Instructions
 

  • Bring a full kettle to the boil.
  • Combine all meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Using clean, damp hands, shape into golf ball sized balls. Set aside.
  • Heat oil in a large fry-pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and oregano and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add tomato passata, sugar, salt and pepper to the pan. Half fill the empty passata bottle with ½ cup boiling water, screw on lid, shake and pour into pan. Simmer sauce for 4-5 minutes until slightly thickened. Stir through milk.
  • Add meatballs to tomato sauce and simmer on medium-low for 8-10 minutes, until cooked through (do not stir the sauce). Turn meatballs halfway through cooking.
  • While the meatballs cook, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes until al dente (just cooked). Drain and gently toss with meatballs and sauce.
  • Toss salad ingredients together.
  • To serve, spoon spaghetti and meatballs into bowls, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and garnish with parsley, if desired. Serve salad on the side.

Notes

To make this dairy-free, just leave out the Parmesan cheese and use dairy-free milk (e.g. soy or almond). Using the two different kinds of meat to make the meatballs gives you a really great flavour and texture, but if you’d prefer it’s fine to just choose one (either beef or pork would be delicious!). You’ll love this tomato pasta sauce recipe – it works great with any pasta! The sugar is key to a well-balanced flavour.