Meatballs with homemade pasta sauce and spaghetti

A classic dish that’s always popular with students. It’s best to learn to make your homemade pasta sauce which can be the perfect accompaniment for any pasta dish.

Sauce:

1 can (14oz/400g) of chopped tomatoes

½ medium sized onion

1g stevia

4-5 mushrooms-sliced thinly

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs

125ml/ 4floz cream (optional)

Seasoning

350g/ 12oz spaghetti

Meatballs:

700g/ 1lb 8oz lean minced beef

½ medium sized onion

1 clove of garlic

50g/2oz fine fresh white breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons grated Dubliner Cheese

Freshly chopped parsley

1 egg

½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Parmesan to sprinkle

First, finely dice the onion and garlic. Place all the other ingredients in a bowl and use the egg to bind them together.

Mould the meatballs into the desired shapes-they should weigh about 75g/ 3oz each. Leave to rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.

Heat a large pan with a little oil and cook for 3-4 minutes and then transfer to the oven for an additional 12-15 minutes to ensure that they are thoroughly cooked.

Bring to boil a pot of water, add the spaghetti in accordance to the packet instructions for 9-11 minutes.

Meanwhile return to the pan in which you have cooked the meatballs and fry the onion, mushroom and garlic until nice and soft.

Mix in the mixed herbs, stevia and the chopped tomatoes. Allow the mixture to bubble away for about 10 minutes.

If using cream to enrich it, add it to the sauce.

Adjust the seasoning and once they are cooked add the meatballs to the sauce.

Serve on top of some hot spaghetti. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Serves
4

Main ingredients
Beef, Vegetables

Recipe Type
Dinner, Budget, Easy, Family Dinners, Healthy, Pasta/Noodles, Quick Meals

Level of Difficulty
Easy

This recipe was created by Kevin Dundon for Sprite, now made with stevia extract, which reduces sugar and calorie content by 30%