Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Another firm favourite in our house and something my kids ask for all the time. I normally serve my meatballs with fusilli but they work well with most pastas.

I use my meatballs recipe and my basic Italian tomato sauce for this dinner. While the meatballs are cooking in the oven the tomato sauce is simmering on the hob.

I like a smoother texture to my tomato sauce with meatballs so I puree the tinned tomatoes. You can leave them chunky if you prefer. You can also use passata instead of tinned tomatoes.

I combine the meatballs into the sauce and simmer while the pasta cooks.

In a large bowl combine the fusilli and the meatballs in sauce. Add a ladle of the cooked pasta water to your sauce. The salty, starchy water not only adds flavor but helps glue the pasta and sauce together. It will also help thicken the sauce.

As I mentioned previously the meatballs freeze well as does the tomato sauce so this can make for a quick midweek dinner if you have them both in the freezer. I would recommend making double or treble the quantities of both and freezing.

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Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 20 meatballs (from my meatballs recipe)
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tin plum tomatoes pureed
• 1.5 tsp mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• pinch sugar
• salt
• ground black pepper
• 400 g fusilli

Instructions

• Make the meatballs as described in my meatballs recipe and bake in the oven for 25 minutes
  
• Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and fry the thinly sliced garlic being careful not to burn it
  
• Add the tinned tomatoes, herbs and sugar and bring to the boil. I usually add a little water to the tin to clean it out and add this to the saucepan.
  
• Simmer for 20-25 minutes making sure to stir every now and then
• Season with salt and black pepper. The quantities will depend on your taste buds.
• Once the meatballs have baked in the oven, add them into the sauce and simmer further while the pasta cooks
  
• Combine the pasta, meatballs and sauce in a serving bowl. Add a ladle of the cooked pasta water to your sauce. The salty, starchy water not only adds flavor but helps glue the pasta and sauce together; it will also help thicken the sauce.