This is a firm favourite of mine, simple, lots of taste and warming for a winters night after a hard day outside. I use either meatballs made from venison or lamb, or if it’s a quick meal I’m after then I’ll chop up some sausages into 2cm pieces and use them as my meatballs.
The thing to remember here is a good quality balsamic vinegar, I use Belazu – it’s a real luxury but you only need a teaspoon for this dish, for basic balsamic you’d need at least a table spoon and it would take a lot more cooking down. If you’ve not got Balsamic then use a good glug of red wine – the richer the better, claret or rioja. Add this with the passata and cook it for an extra couple of minutes.
Ingredients
200g pasta (shells or twists ideally)
200g meatballs
1 onion finely chopped
1 finely chopped pepper
500ml passata
a generous teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
grated parmesan, salt, pepper
Method
- Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.
- While it’s cooking heat some olive oil with the balsamic vinegar in a frying pan, to drive off the acetic acid.
- Add the onion and pepper and soften them, then add the meatballs and seal and brown them. It will all take a glorious colour from the balsamic.
- add the garlic for 20sec to cook before adding the passata. Cook this for 5min to thicken the sauce and ensure the meatballs are cooked through.
- Season to taste, mix through the drained pasta and serve with parmesan and a good grind of black pepper.
If you want to use fresh pasta then I use linguini, it’s easy to make and works well with the sauce. I’d make 175g flour plus the egg to make a portion.
If you want to be chefy about it seal the meat balls first then put them aside, adding them back in a couple of minutes before the end – it keeps them very tender, but if your meatballs are good it makes less difference.