A real Italian might question my methods but I promise these are tasty!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

Meatballs

• 250g lean beef mince
• 250g pork mince (if you don’t eat pork, these can easily be 100% beef)
• 12 x Jacob’s cream crackers
• a few sprigs of Rosemary (I use a lot)
• 1.5 tbsp whole grain mustard
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper to season
• shavings of parmesan

Sauce 

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• 650ml passata
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp caster sugar (a sweetener can easily be substituted here)
• a few dashes of Tabasco
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs

1. Heat your oven to 180C Fan
2. Place a large pan on a medium heat and add your oil and onions. Allow the onions to cook for 3-4 minutes. Then add the crushed garlic and continue to cook until golden.
3. Whilst the onion and garlic cook, combine all of the meatball ingredients. I like to put the crackers into a food processor to create a crumb like texture. Once the crackers are sufficiently crushed it’s better to get your hands dirty and mix everything together. When this is done roll them into small balls and place on an over tray (I’d recommend covering the tray with tinfoil and spraying lightly with Frylight.
4. Place the meatballs into the over for 12-15 minutes until brown in colour.
5. Boil water and cook spaghetti according to packet instructions.
6. Once your onions are golden brown add the remaining sauce ingredients and turn the heat down allowing this to simmer as the meatballs cook. You might need more/less sugar depending on the acidity of the passata so I’d taste to check the flavour.
7. Once your meatballs are ready, you can turn the heat down on your sauce and serve up with a little bit of parmesan.

To a few people this might be a little bit of a different method. I know most people like to fry meatballs and then place into a sauce to cook. You can easily do this with my recipe rather than oven bake. But I really like cooking the meatballs in the oven, it gives them a crispy texture which is lovely alongside the soft pasta and gooey sauce.