Melt in the mouth Italian meatballs in brothy red sauce

Meatballs in red sauce and oldie but a goodie....a bit like me!

I am a wanted women when I make these, I hear cries from my bestie in Melbourne that she has missed out and my teenager may just appear at the front door if she knows these are on the go.

They are so good and it is hard to stop yourself eating the whole pot then mop the juices up with good bread!

This recipe will make enough to serve 4 very greedy humans - but you could double the meat and make more, enough for many more greedy guests..it's perfect for freezing too.

MY BROTHY RED SAUCE

SHOP IT;

2 bottles of best quality passata - italian if you can get your hands on the good stuff!

3 minced cloves of garlic

1 small onion, peeled and halved – we will discard once sauce is done

1 carrot – peeled and sliced in half - we will also discard once sauce is done

COOK IT;

In 50g of butter, on a lowish heat gently fry your garlic, onion and carrot until they look like they’re just about to pick up some colour and smell unreal

season with salt & pepper and a small pinch of chilli, if you like a little spice

Then add your bottles of strained tomatoes / passata

If you want you could throw in some herbs (I do) sage, rosemary or basil - once cooked these will come out with whole onion and carrot

add a litre of your favourite flavour of Love and Bones Broth

Bring to a simmer and let it bubble on the lowest heat while you prepare the meatballs 

MEATBALLS

SHOP IT;

250g grassfed / organic mince beef

250g free range happy mince pork

3 slices of stale sourdough bread roughly 1 cup – whizzed into crumbs  (you can use gluten free bread crumbs)

enough milk to soak the crumbs between ½ - 1 cup 

½ cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese and extra for when you serve your balls

1 carrot grated on the finest side of your grater

1 small zucchini grated the same way - (mine was to big, I didn't use it all)

2-3 garlic cloves finely minced

½ cup of parsley chopped very finely

1 - 2 eggs dependant on the size of the egg (small 2, large 1)

 a big pinch or 2 of salt and a pinch of pepper

COOK IT;

Pre-heat your oven to 160c

your brothy red sauce should be bubbling away ever so gently and ready for its final stage

start by fishing the onion, carrot and herbs out of your sauce ready for those melt in the mouth meatballs. Remove the onion and garlic out of your sauce (with tongs), this should be quite easy if they haven’t broken up to much

do this just before you start putting your meat balls in

your sauce should have been cooking for at least 20-30min or you may have sauce in the freezer and it cooked for an hour, just add more broth if it reduces to much

now for those meatballs....put your cup of breadcrumbs into a bowl and pour your milk over the top and allow to soak  

grate your zucchini and carrot – squeeze out any excess liquid from them with your hands

now get a large bowl and put your meat in - follow my pictures for total no brainer cooking

then add all your other ingredients (that you should have prepped prior)

with your clean hands or gloved hands, mix everything together super thoroughly – (this will take about 10min if you do it properly)

once finished wet your hands and roll out little balls with your mixture, place on a plate with a sheet of wax paper in between every layer of meatballs

In a shallow fry pan with a little butter, ghee or beef tallow fry your meatballs until there is colour on all sides

then add them to your pot of bubbling brothy sauce – repeat until all finished

Pop the pot in the oven on 160c for 15 min while you cook polenta, pasta, potatoes, greens or sweet potato or you can simply eat them as is with a mound of parmesan and olive oil

These balls will melt in your mouth – I'm not kidding! They are highly addictive and I will be making them tomorrow.