Indulgent, juicy and bursting with flavour, these meatballs are a perfect family dinner idea. Whether you serve them with fresh spaghetti or in a toasted sub roll, they are sure to keep everyone happy, and asking for more. If you don't have beef mince, you could easily swap in minced pork, turkey or chicken or a blend of any of them for an equally delicious hit of Italian comfort food. Recipe originally from Olive Magazine
Preparation Time: 2 hours
Serves: 6
Ingredients
3 onions, finely diced
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 bay leaves
400 g tin chopped tomatoes
600 ml passata
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
500 g beef mince
125 g fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 egg
250 g block mozzarella
100 g mascarpone
Method
1. Gently fry the onions in a large frying pan with the olive oil until softened. Add the garlic and turn up the heat, frying them off for a couple of minutes. Place half of the fried onion mixture in a bowl and set aside to cool.
2. Next add the bay leaves, chopped tomatoes, passata, tomato puree, sugar and vinegar to the pan with the remaining onions and bring to a simmer. Let the sauce blip away from 20 minutes or so until it has reduced down and thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper then remove from the heat.
3. Once the separated onions have cooled down, add the beef mince, breadcrumbs, crushed fennel seeds, oregano, egg and salt and pepper and mix well with your hands. Shape the mix into balls (you should get roughly 20, depending on their size).
4. Fry the meatballs in batches in a hot frying pan with olive oil. Don't crowd the pan or the meatballs will steam and not go crispy. When the meatballs are nearly cooked through and golden brown, remove them from the pan and allow them to cool.
5. Grate 200 g of the mozzarella and combine with the mascarpone and a little salt to make a paste.
6. When everything has cooled down to room temperature, combine the meatballs and marinara sauce and spread evenly into a baking dish. Place blobs of the mascarpone mixture around the meatballs and scatter over the remaining mozzarella.
7. Cover the dish with tin foil and bake in an oven on 180⁰C for 30 minutes. Remove the tin foil and and bake for a further 30-45 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and the meatballs are piping hot.
8. Serve with fresh pasta, rice, in a meatball sub or however you fancy.
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