A thing of beauty. Honestly, the most satisfaction you’ll get out of anything this simple. Try it.
Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
via Smitten Kitchen
Serves 4
800g whole peeled canned tomatoes
70 grams unsalted butter (I used salted and still added salt but it’s probably better to err on the side of caution)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste
Place the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes.
Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.
These meatballs were awesome. They may very well be the best, really light and soft – adding ricotta is a genius idea. They were really fresh tasting as well. I used pork and veal, but you can use whatever you like.
Meatballs
Serves 4
185 ml Olive Oil
1 Onion, finely chopped or grated
100g Pine Nuts
3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
40g Parsley, chopped
Small handful of thyme
55g fresh or dried breadcrumbs
300g Ricotta
40g Parmesan cheese
Zest of a lemon
1 Free Range Egg
250g Mince Pork
250g Mince Veal
Heat half of the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts until onion is soft and the pine nuts are light golden brown.
Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a few minutes more – making sure you don’t overcook the pine nuts.
Place the parsley, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the mince.
Add the cooled onion and pine nuts, season with salt and pepper and mix briefly until all of the ingredients are combined. Test for seasoning by frying one small meatball and tasting for flavour. Leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins. This will help the meatballs hold their shape whilst cooking.
To make the meatballs, roll about 50g of mixture into a ball about the size of a golf ball. At this point you could put on your water for your pasta – to get it boiling.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the meatballs until golden brown on both sides. You will probably need to cook these in a couple of batches to avoid overcrowding the frying pan. Once browned on both sides, remove the meatballs from the pan. Don’t worry about cooking them through – we’ll do this later. By just searing them each side for some colour and texture, you will keep the meatballs moist inside.
Put the pasta on to boil.
Place the meatballs into the pan, sitting in the tomato sauce. Place a lid over the top and simmer for 10 mins. Give the pan a little gentle shake every so often, just to make sure that the sauce or the meatballs haven’t stuck to the bottom, as this will cause them to burn. You want the sauce to be on a gentle simmer.
Drain the pasta, divide between bowls, top with a few meatballs, sauce and parmazan.
