Midweek Meatballs, making meatballs from scratch sounds tricky but it's actually really easy. I use to make meatballs that fell apart everywhere but I've learnt to cut the onion up small, not make them too wet and also not to move them too much when browning them. And the secret to adding bags of flavour? Throw in a good quality dukkah! Sure, it's not traditional but everyone's up for a quick flavour hack.
Tip - this is a perfect meal to batch up and put one in the freezer for another night.
Ingredients:
- 250g pork mince
- 250g beef mince
- 1 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
- 4 tablespoons dukkah
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Tomato based pasta sauce
- Water
To serve:
- Parmesan cheese
- Parsley or basil
- Spaghetti
METHOD:
1. Chop the onion and garlic into small pieces. If the onion is cut too large it will cause your meatballs to fall apart when cooking.
2. Mix the pork, beef, onion, garlic, oregano, egg, breadcrumbs and dukkah in a large bowl with your hands.
3. Season with good quality salt and pepper.
4. Heat a heavy pan to a low heat on the cook top and add the olive oil. I like to use a French style saute pan that I can later put in the oven to slowly bake.
5. While the pan is heating, mould the mixture into meatballs about the size of a golf ball, and place in the saute pan.
6. As the pan comes to temperature and the meatballs brown, careful turn the meatballs only once.
7. Pour over the pasta sauce and gently mix in a cup of water.
8. Place in an oven set at 160 degrees celsius and leave for about an hour.
9. Serve on spaghetti, with grated parmesan and chopped parsley or basil (depending on the season).
10. Enjoy!
TOP LOCAL TIPS:
DUKKAH // Dukkah is a fragrant, roasted spice and nut blend that adds a real punch and crunch to even everyday ingredients. We've used our own The Olive Shop home made nutty dukkah which is a toasty, nutty blend of almonds, sesame seeds and spices.
PASTA SAUCE // choose a good quality pasta sauce for extra flavour and nutrition. We're using the JimJam plain jane pasta sauce because not only is it made right here in beautiful Stanley, but it's chock full of veg and flavour.
SALT // Salt is one of those ubiquitous ingredients that you might not think about too much. The difference between white and pink salt can be it's mineral content. Australia's only naturally pink salt is Murray River Salt which is recognised for it's purity and mineral content.