Spaghetti with meatballs is one of my favourite things to eat. Tonight I think I made my all time best meatballs ever. Mr Arabella Eats said they were definitely the tastiest in his opinion so I shall share with you why I think that was. Before this evening I’d always finished cooking my meatballs in with the tomato sauce, either on the hob or in the oven, and had always ended up being disappointed with their flavour, particularly compared with the piece I’d fried off to check for seasoning at the start of cooking. It was infuriating and I couldn’t work out why it happened. Then I read somewhere that cooking the meatballs in with the tomato sauce like that ‘leaches out their flavour’. It was a eureka moment.  Tonight I cooked the meatballs completely through on their own in the frying pan and they were amazing!

Also, I watched a bit of Nigel Slater last night and he puts anchovies into his meatballs, which he says enhances the flavour. I didn’t have any anchovies but I did have some Umami paste (from Waitrose) in the cupboard so I put a bit of that in, along with Nigel’s recommended lemon zest and I think that also helped their flavour intensity. The paste has a bit of anchovy in it, along with porcini mushrooms, red wine, tomatoes, parmesan and bay leaf so I put some in the tomato sauce as well. But shhhh don’t tell Mr Arabella Cooks (let’s call him Mr AC) as he thinks he doesn’t like anchovies or mushrooms. I also add toasted fennel seeds which again he’s not wild about but I owned up to those (well, you can actually specifically taste them) and he said he liked their addition so I’ve included them in the recipe, but omit them if you don’t like them.

Meatballs are a fairly forgiving substance so you don’t have to be utterly precise with your measurements. I usually just chuck handfuls of stuff in, but I measured it all out tonight to make it easy for you.

To make the dish gluten free, just use gluten free breadcrumbs and/or crackers and serve with gluten free pasta.

Meatball ingredients (Serves 4):

• 1 pack of pork mince (about 450/500g)
• 1 pack of beef or steak mince (same weight)
• 4 tablespoons of breadcrumbs soaked in 2 tablespoons of milk
• 2 tablespoons of Jacobs Crackers bashed up to crumbs
• 2 tablespoons of fennel seeds (optional)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 large onion, chopped as finely as you can
• 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan
• Grated zest of a lemon
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• Black pepper

Method:

1) Dry fry the fennel seeds in a frying pan until they become fragrant (about 3 or 4 minutes). Toss them every 30 seconds.

2) Squeeze the soaked breadcrumbs with your hands and add them and all the other ingredients to the minced meat in a large bowl.

3) Mix this together with your hands.

4) Take a small bit of the mixture and fry it off to check for seasoning. Add more salt or pepper if you think it needs it.

5) Roll the mixture into balls. They need to be fairly small so that they cook completely through in the pan.

6) Fry the balls in batches, or use a couple of frying pans at once. (Don’t overcrowd the pan). They need to be a nice brown on all sides. They should be cooked in about 10 – 15 minutes, but cut one open to check there’s no pink left inside.

7) Make a tomato sauce using an onion, garlic, tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, a pinch of salt, some Umami paste (if you like) and a serving spoon of the cooking water from your pasta.

8) Cook your spaghetti; dried or fresh is fine. I like to make my own tagliatelle using a royal pasta dough if I’m making this for guests, but tonight I used shop bought fresh spaghetti and it was still delicious.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan on top. Yum!