The Susanne

These meat­balls are so good, they just might make you over-​eat and leave you with a stomach-​ache! They’re per­fect with spa­ghetti, or even on their own (I’d ima­gine). I make mine with the accom­pani­ment of my Per­fect Roas­ted Tomato Sauce, let­ting them cook in the sauce in the oven on a low heat for 30 minutes. This leaves them soft, moist and lovely. I got the inspir­a­tion for this recipe from one of my Sicilian Cook­ery books, but I’ve changed it quite a bit.

Here’s my recipe for this amaz­ingly deli­cious Sicilian treat:

• 500g minced beef
• 2 small cloves of garlic, grated
• a big bunch of fresh pars­ley, chopped
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 dl bread­crumbs, soaked in
• -soy milk (about 1 dl when mixed)
• 1 dl parmesan, grated
• salt and pepper to taste
• Per­fect Roas­ted Tomato Sauce

Set your oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Begin the meat­balls by mixing all the dry ingredi­ents with the minced beef: the garlic, the cheese, the pars­ley, salt and pepper:

Then add the bread­crumbs soaked in soy milk:

Then add the egg:

-And mix well. Shape the meat­balls using a spoon (I use my reg­u­lar table spoon as I think it gives a great size and shape to my meatballs):

Coat them lightly in flour and brown them quickly in olive oil:

-Before adding them to the sauce in a roast­ing tin, taking care to cover the meat­balls with sauce. Place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes. During which time you’ve got the per­fect oppor­tun­ity to make the spa­ghetti or whatever you’re serving to go along with them. You could even eat them on their own, they’re so good.

Take the whole thing out after 30 minutes and it should look some­thing like this:

If you love your friends, invite them over. If you need a break from them, don’t let them taste this. You’ll never be rid of them, I swear ;)

I came up with this last night when I was crav­ing pasta but also saw there were loads of veget­ables in the fridge that had to be eaten. I even threw in a little cheese even though it makes me ill, just because cheesy pasta is so yum. This made one huge por­tion that I couldn’t finish, so I sup­pose it will feed two girls or one man.

• 1 por­tion spaghetti
• 1/2 cap­sicum (green bell pepper)
• 1/2 onion
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 8 small broc­coli florets
• 1 dl grated Jarlsberg
• 10 slices cured ham

Slice the cap­sicum and the onion thinly (about 1-2 mm thick). Cut the toma­toes in half. Cut the ham slices into 1 cm strips.

Boil the spa­ghetti in 2 L water with a little salt and veget­able oil.

In a skil­let, sauté the veget­ables (except the toma­toes) for about five minutes. Add the toma­toes and sauté for another minute. You don’t want them to turn to mush.

When the spa­ghetti is done, drain and put it back in the pot. Add the veget­ables, the ham and the cheese and toss. Serve imme­di­ately on deep plates.

Yum!