Meatballs

Ok so today we are going to make meatballs in a tomato sauce. You will have to get your hands dirty but it's actually quite enjoyable.

You will need:

250g mince

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 onion

1 lemon

1 egg

2 slices of bread, crusts removed

1 pack of parsley**

4 tbs of grated parmesan cheese

The first thing is to wash your hands and then make the tomato sauce.

Peel the onion and cut in half. Chop one half into small pieces. Take all the leafy bits off the parsley and chop the stalks really finely. Put the leafy bits to one side for now.

Heat a little bit of oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the chopped onion. Stir and fry until it is golden brown. Add the tin of tomatoes and the parsley. Half fill the empty tomato tin with water and add this to the pan. If you have some tomato ketchup add a good squirt. Bring everything up to the boil then turn the heat to low and leave the sauce to gently pootle away in the background.

Put the bread into a small bowl and pour over a little milk. You want the bread to be wet but not swamped. Wait for a couple of minutes then squeeze out the milk, crumble the soggy bread up and put it into a roomy bowl along with the mince.

Grate the other half of the onion on the large holes of a cheese grater and add the mush to the mince in the bowl.

Chop the leafy parsley bits and add to the bowl along with the grated parmesan, the finely grated the zest of the lemon (use the smallest holes on the cheese grater) and then break in the egg.

Now get your hands in the bowl and give everything a really good squelching - you want to mix all the ingredients together as evenly as possible.

Once that's done, wet your hands under the tap then take small lumps of the meat mixture and roll into a nice ball. Try and do this with a light touch, because if you squash them too enthusiastically the end result can be a bit bouncy. As each meatball is made drop it into the pan of tomato sauce.

When all the meatballs are in, give the pan a bit of a shake to move things around. This is better than stirring because the balls are a bit delicate at first and battering them about with a spoon will undo all that hard work. Make sure the sauce is simmering and then cover the pan as they cook - just shake it occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. They will take about 20 minutes.

Serve them with some rice and sprinkle over extra cheese if you like :)

**if you can't get fresh parsley use 1tsp of any dried herb you have in the meatball mixture and also in the tomato sauce. Dried mixed herbs are nice and cheap and will go in almost anything. But possibly not custard.

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H: 'I don't have any tinned tomatoes, I've got tomato passata? ??'

'Yep. Same difference. I forgot what I ordered....'

H: 'Ah okay'

'Just slosh a bit of water into the box instead of the tin'

H: 'What pan do I use'

H: 'What size*

'Whatever you've got - I couldn't remember. Go with the biggest.'

H: 'K!'

H: 'I forgot the egg!!! It's all in the sauce now oh man'

'Ok don't panic'

'Turn the heat really low'

'You don't want the meatballs clattering about'

H: 'Okay'

'It might be ok'

H: 'I guess we'll just have to try this one again'

'Well at the worst it's Bog Sauce and Rice :)'

'Keep taking photos, it's all FINE'

'If you shake the pan, do it very very gently x'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

H: 'I've already finished!'

'Oh my that looks OK!! How does it taste?'

'Do you have actual balls (sorry fnar)'

H: 'It's a bit hot at the moment haha'

H: 'It tastes great! I put the parmesan on top cause I missed that step with the egg, but they are fine. They're quite soft though hahah'

'Well they are supposed to be soft. Nicer that way :) '

H: 'Yup!'

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Well done H. Really well done. Top nerd.