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.
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
- 1½ 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.