Spaghetti meatballs with ostrich mince. (Photo: Jax Kinnear) Sarah’s Spaghetti Meatballs from Jax Kinnear
I have a family history of heart disease and so, yes, I am paying attention to my precious heart. I have been since 1991 when I cut out red meat for 20 years. And so my immediate response to sharing a much-loved recipe with you transported me back to the early 1990s.
I found a way to eat delicious spaghetti meatballs, one of my most comforting foods, in a heart-healthful way. I used ostrich mince as my red meat. I named these meatballs after our daughter Sarah because for the best part of growing up she ate ostrich meat as red meat. These meatballs are full of flavour and good for your heart too.
Ingredients
Tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped (85g)
3 garlic cloves (7-10g) finely chopped
35 g tomato paste
5 ml dried origanum
5 ml dried mixed herbs
½ teaspoon sugar
2 cans Italian chopped tomatoes
10g fresh basil leaves
10g Italian flat leaf parsley
Meatballs
500g ostrich mince. Please use beef if that’s what you like (I do now too), or any mincemeat of your choice)
100g grated onion (1 small)
5-7g grated garlic (2 cloves)
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley chopped
50g breadcrumbs toasted in pan OR 1 egg (I use sourdough bread blitzed in the NutriBullet)
½ teaspoon Himalayan salt
A few cracks pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ tablespoon dried origanum
1 tsp mixed herbs
4 tablespoons olive oil
Pasta (cook according to packet instructions)
500g linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
Bake
30-50g freshly grated parmesan (or mozzarella)
2 tablespoons pesto
Method
Tomato sauce
Add olive oil to pan and fry onion for 2 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and fry for another minute.
Add the tomato paste to onion mix and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the origanum, mixed herbs and sugar. Add a touch of sugar to tomatoes to balance their acidity. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the cans of tomatoes.
Cook on a steady simmer, medium heat for about 30 minutes.
Add the chopped basil and parsley to the tomato sauce and stir through. Set aside until ready to use.
Meatballs
Blitz the sourdough or any other bread of choice in a NutriBullet until fine breadcrumbs. Fry the breadcrumbs to get a toasty flavour.
In a separate bowl, add all the meatball ingredients except 2 tablespoons of olive oil, which will be used for shallow frying. Mix together so that all the ingredients are incorporated and well blended.
Shape into 30g-35g torpedo-shaped balls. You should get about 18 balls.
Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan. When hot, add the meatballs and brown for about 2-3 minutes. Turn the meatballs and repeat on the underside.
Arrange the meatballs in a ovenproof casserole dish (23cm x 23cm). Pour over the tomato sauce. (Optional: add some pesto to the meatballs.)
Grate cheese over the top.
Bake at 180ºC for 30 minutes.
Add the cooked spaghetti/linguine to a big bowl and serve with a portion of meatball. Enjoy with salad and garlic bread.
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Lola’s Copper Biscuits from Heather Scott
Apart from the immediate comfort of punching two triangular holes in a tin of condensed milk and slukking it until you are in a sugar coma, my mom Lola’s “Copper” biscuits, as perfected from Aunty Margaret’s recipe, are a superb choice for comfort. And great dunkers too.
Ingredients
Oven at 175c/350f
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3oz margarine/butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
3 tablespoons hot water
1-1.5 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Method
Mix dry ingredients.
Add hot water to golden syrup.
Add wet mixture to dry ingredients. Knead to a soft dough.
Roll into small balls and allow room to spread.
Check after 10 minutes. Cool on a rack. DM