Food & Wine
Baked lamb meatballs and spaghetti
The mixture for these tasty meatballs can be combined and rolled in advance, or you can cook the whole meatball and sauce element of the recipe ahead of time. Then all you will need to do it cook the pasta and prepare the salad when you are ready to eat.
Serves: 5
Ingredients:
For the baked lamb meatballs
- 500g lamb mince
- ½ cup fine breadcrumbs
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped oregano leaves
- ½ brown onion, finely diced
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the tomato silverbeet sauce and spaghetti
- ½ brown onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
- 600-700ml jar tomato passata
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3–4 stalks silverbeet, white stalks removed, leaves thinly sliced (3 cups total)
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 400g dried spaghetti
For the salad
- 1 lettuce, roughly chopped
- 2 tomatoes, diced 1cm
- ½ telegraph cucumber, diced 1cm
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Juice of ½ a lemon
Method:
- Preheat oven and a large casserole/lasagne style dish to 230°C.
- Combine all baked lamb meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well using clean hands. Use a tablespoon to measure mixture and roll into golf-ball sized balls. Put into preheated baking dish and bake for 10 minutes. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
- While meatballs bake, prepare sauce; heat a drizzle of olive oil in a medium pot on medium heat. Fry onion and garlic for 2–3 minutes, until softened and just starting to colour. Add passata and sugar and bring to the boil then and add silverbeet. Simmer for 2 minutes until wilted and season with salt and pepper.
- Remove meatballs from oven and pour sauce over to cover. Sprinkle with cheese and bake a further 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and golden.
- While meatballs are baking, cook spaghetti in pot of boiling water for 10–12 minutes until al dente (just tender). Drain and return to pot with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent sticking.
- In a large bowl, toss all salad ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.
- To serve, divide spaghetti between plates and top with baked lamb meatballs and sauce. Serve salad on the side.
Written by Nadia Lim. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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