Meatballs with Penne

You know there isn’t much wrong with the world when you can sit down to a big plate of Italian meatballs! This recipe takes full advantage of slow cooking and is a real winner. I am sure there must be some Italian blood in me because I bet this is as good as any Italian Grandma recipe that you will find out there!

Ingredients

SAUCE

• 500g jar passatta
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• Very small can of tomato concentrate
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 tsp sugar
• Garlic powder/granules (NOT garlic salt)
• Some  olive oil
• Seasoning

MEATBALLS

• 250g lean minced beef
• 250g lean minced pork
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• One egg beaten
• 1 tsp Garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• Some olive oil
• Seasoning

Prep time: 25 mins. Cooking time: 6 hrs.   Yield: Serves 4. Serve with pasta, covered in Parmesan. I prefer linguini to basic spaghetti and it works well with penne.

SAUCE

1. Fry the onion (sprinkle with 1/2 tsp garlic powder) in around 2 tbs of oil at medium for five mins till translucent.
2. Add the passatta, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to the boil. Add sugar and season.
3. Place the mix in a slow cooker and cover. Cook for two hrs at high then a further three hrs at low (or low all day if you are going out to work.)

FOUR HOURS LATER…THE MEATBALLS

1. Place the mince in a bowl and simply add the garlic powder, breadcrumbs, oregano, parsley, egg and seasoning and mix with your hand till well brought together.
2. With the palm of your hand make into small, half golfball size, balls and cook in a medium heat pan with two tbsp oil for about seven minutes – don’t make the heat too fierce – the idea is to get them to cook right the way through. Place on a plate with kitchen towel to absorb oil. Repeat till all the mixture is cooked – makes about 25 meatballs.
3. Add the meatballs to the slow cooker, mix lightly, and cook on low for a further hour.