Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Thick and rich. There is nothing like a good bowl of pasta to warm the cockles of your heart.

Thanks to my lovely David for this beautiful photo!!

Serves 6

500g gluten free pasta

500g pork mince

500g beef mince

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp white pepper

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup polenta

3 spring onions, green parts only, finely sliced

2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

½ tsp red chilli flakes

2 Tbsp garlic oil

800g tinned diced tomatoes (doesn’t have to be exact)

500ml chicken stock*

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 bay leaves

¼ cup red wine

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ lemon, juiced

Combine pork, beef, tomato paste, thyme, white pepper, egg and polenta in a large bowl. Roll out 2cm balls and place into containers or onto plates and refrigerate, covered, for an hour.

In a large pot, heat garlic oil over a medium heat. Add spring onions, thyme and chilli and fry until the onion soften. Add tomatoes, stock, tomato paste, bay leaves, wine and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour or until the sauce has thickened.

Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Heat a large frypan over medium heat with a little oil. Add meatballs one at a time**, shaking the pan occasionally to turn the meatballs over. Once browned, transfer the meatballs to the baking tray and keep in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until cooked through. Add cooked meatballs to sauce pot and stir through. Keep cooking meatballs in batches until they’re all done.

Boil a large pot of water with big pot and cook pasta. Serve meatballs and sauce with pasta, topped with parmesan.

* I make and store my own onion-free, gluten-free stock for use

** Rerolling the meatballs before putting them in the pan will help prevent them from getting a flat side