Recipes

Recipe: One-pan Meatballs

Recipe: One-pan Meatballs

Preheat oven to 200°C.
Put a splash of oil in an oven dish/pan and place it in the oven to heat up.
Finely chop the onion.
Peel the carrot and finely grate it along with courgette and celery (discard celery fibres).
Place onions, grated vegetables, minced meats, herbs, garlic, salt, pepper, and ground rice crispies into a mixing bowl. Mix everything well by hand until combined.
Form golf ball-sized meatballs and place them onto a chopping board or large plate.
Once all meatballs are made, remove the oven dish/pan from the oven. Place the meatballs in the dish, pour over the chopped tomatoes, and return to the oven for 10–15 minutes until the tops start to brown and the meatballs have shrunk slightly. If the sauce looks too thick, add the reserved water now.
Remove the meatballs, turn them over, sprinkle in the stock cube, gently stir the tomatoes, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes until meatballs are browned and the sauce is bubbling.
Remove the meatballs from the oven and check they are cooked to your liking. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
Bring to the table and enjoy!

Serve with spaghetti and parmesan cheese.
Don't worry about how much salt and herbs go into the meat; the flavours come out into the tomatoes during cooking.
The finely grated vegetables disappear into the meat, adding sweetness and depth of flavour.
I use 13% fat content in meat because fat gives flavour. Lower-fat meat (5%) makes drier meatballs, so you’ll need to add an egg. Higher-fat meat (18%) may require ½ cup of rice crispies to prevent shrinking.
The smaller the meatballs, the faster they cook.

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