Meatballs post

A yummy recipe from 'Cool Kids Cook', my new cookery book from my Birthday . Here is a great meatballs recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 thick slice of white bread, crusts removed

100ml / 1/2 cup of milk

225g/8oz beef mince

225g/8oz pork mince

1 onion, grated or finely chopped (we only used half an onion)

3 tbsps finely chopped flat leaf parsley

a pinch of dried oregano

a large pinch of salt

a grind of pepper

2 tbsps olive oil

Method:

Rip the bread into a few pieces and put it into a small bowl with the milk. Leave to soak
Next, mix up the meat, onion, parsley, oregano and a bit of seasoning in a large bowl
Mash the bread and milk mixture with a fork and tip into the meat mixture
Now, mix all the ingredients really well using your very clean hands and shape the meatballs - roll a tbsp of mixture into a ball, trying to keep them all the same size.
Heat up a large frying pan over a high heat, and carefully add the olive oil and then the meatballs. You may need to do this in two batches depending on the size of your pan. Allow them to brown a little, then very carefully roll them over to colour the underside too. They will take around five minutes each side until firm and cooked through. TEST a ball by cutting it in half - if the meat is still pink, cook for a couple of minutes longer.

Serve the meatballs with tomato sauce and cooked spaghetti or short pasta like penne or fusilli. Grate cheese over the top if you like!

You can make a simple tomato pasta sauce by cooking half a chopped onion in some olive oil in a large pan for ten minutes, then adding 1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves - fry this till you can really smell the garlic, only a couple of minutes usually. Tip in 2 cans of chopped tomatoes into the pan with a pinch of salt and pepper and 1 tsp of sugar. Leave the sauce to cook on a low heat, it will need to simmer away for 20-30 minutes. GIve it a stir now and again to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom. Add some fresh basil if you like and a touch more seasoning.