Meatballs with spaghetti

Tender and delicious family classic

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Serves

4

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

An hour seems a long time to cook meatballs, but it's well worth the wait with the enhancement of flavour and tenderness.

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Kathy Paterson
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Ingredients

Beef
  • 500g Quality Mark beef mince

  • 1/2 cup parsley

    finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbsi

  • 1 egg

  • 2 Tbsp milk

  • 1 tsp dried oregano

Spaghetti sauce
  • 1 onion

    finely sliced
  • 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes in juice

  • 1 tsp red wine vinegar

  • 1 tsp (optional) brown sugar

  • 400g spaghetti pasta

To serve
  • 2 courgettes

    trimmed, peeled into ribbons and blanched
  • 120g bag baby spinach

  • grated colby cheese

Method

To Make Beef
1

Place the beef mince, parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, milk and oregano in a large bowl.

2

Season and mix well using clean hands.

3

Divide mince mixture into 16 meatballs, rolling them gently.

4

Place on a large plate then cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

To Make Sauce
1

Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.

2

Remove meatballs from the refrigerator and place in the frying pan.

3

Cook until browned, then transfer to a plate.

4

Lower heat, add the onion and cook until soft.

5

Add the tomatoes, red wine vinegar and sugar if using.

6

Return meatballs to the frying pan, cover and cook over a low heat for 1 hour.

7

Check from time to time to check they are not sticking to the bottom.

8

Just before the meatballs are cooked, place a large saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil.

9

Add the spaghetti and cook for 8 minutes.

10

Drain spaghetti reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water.

11

Add cooking water to the meatballs to loosen the sauce.

To Serve
1

Gently toss together the meatballs, sauce, spaghetti and green vegetables and place in a large warmed serving bowl. Sprinkle with your favourite grated cheese.

Nutrition Information per Serving (595g)

This nutrition analysis is based on 4 serves and doesn't include the grated cheese.

Energy
2531kJ (605 kcal)
Protein
47.7g
Total Fat
8.9g
Saturated Fat
3.4g
Carbohydrate
76.8g
Dietary Fibre
10.8g
Sodium
160mg
Iron
7.6mg
Zinc
8.0mg
Vitamin B12
1.2µg