What mince looks like when it isn’t being boring

Italian meatballs with tagliatelle

Recipe by Abigail Donnelly
Serves 6
Easy
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour, 10 minutes

For the tomato sauce:
3 T olive oil
2 T butter
200 g leeks, washed and roughly chopped
2 onions, roughly chopped
salt, to taste
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
1 cup white wine (optional)
1 cup beef stock
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 x 800 g Woolworths Italian whole peeled tomatoes can, blended
3 T tomato paste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the meatballs:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed
1 cup milk
500 g Woolworths lean beef mince
500 g pork mince
1 red onion, grated
4 T Italian parsley roughly chopped
50 g Parmesan finely grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 T olive oil
1 x 500 g Woolworths tagliatelle pasta packet, cooked al dente, for serving
Parmesan, for serving
basil, to garnish

1 To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil and butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and onions and cook until soft, seasoning with salt. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme and cook for 3 minutes, then pour in the wine.
2 Reduce the wine by half, then add the beef stock, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes and tomato paste. Season with pepper. Cook, covered, over a low heat for 45 minutes.
3 To make the meatballs, preheat the oven to 180°C. Soak the bread in the milk. Squeeze out any excess milk and place in a large bowl. Add the mince, onion, parsley and Parmesan and season to taste.
4 Mix using your hands. Roll into 20 small balls or 15 slightly larger ones.
5 Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Brown the meatballs in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan.
6 Arrange the meatballs on a baking tray and finish in the oven for about 10 minutes.
7 Place the pasta in a serving dish. Mix the meatballs and tomato sauce, then spoon over the pasta. Serve with Parmesan and garnish with basil.

Cook’s note: If you omit the wine from the sauce, double the quantity of beef stock. You can also use all beef mince instead of half pork.

For more mince recipes and mince specials visit www.woolworths.co.za