Recipe: Baked pasta with meatballs in a tomato sauce

By , 10 May 2016

Comment

2

Baked pasta with meatballs

Serve with Chianti Classico.

Comfort food.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
15g fresh parsley, finely chopped
500g beef mince
1 tsp (5ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp (10ml) Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ cup (60ml) Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
vegetable oil, for frying
400g penne pasta, cooked according to packet instructions
1 packet (200g) fresh tomato sauce
1 packet (200g) fresh cheese sauce
extra fresh parsley, finely chopped for garnishing
extra Parmesan, finely grated for serving

Method:

To make the meatballs
Place onions, garlic, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and Parmesan cheese into a bowl and mix together lightly. Add mince and egg and mix until well combined. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Shape into rounds the size of golf balls and set aside.

Heat a pan with a little vegetable oil and when hot, fry meatballs in batches of 3 or 4 for about 1-2 minutes or until well browned but still pink in the middle. (It will finish cooking in oven.) Remove from pan and set aside.

To assemble
Preheat oven to 180°C. Place cooked penne into a casserole dish and top with the seared meatballs. Pour over the tomato and cheese sauce and top with extra grated Parmesan cheese.

Place in oven for about 15-20 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and meatballs have cooked through.

Remove from oven, garnish with freshly chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Wine pairing:
Something that is medium bodied with plenty of red fruit, relatively high acidity and quite firm tannins will work well with this dish. Tomatoes are a red fruit so you want this to mirrored in the wine so don’t go too rich and full-bodied; also the acidity of the sauce will decrease the perceived the acidity of the wine and the protein of the meatballs needs some tannins. Chianti Classico (from Sangiovese) is an excellent match. Alternatively, consider new-wave Pinotage.

  • Recipe supplied by Source Food – a Cape Town-based food agency that specializes in experiential marketing. They will create a recipe or meal to communicate your brand’s message.

Comments

2 comment(s)

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    John | 11 May 2016

    Hi, where would I buy packets of fresh tomato sauce and fresh cheese sauce? Looks like a very nice recipe. Regards, John.

      Christian | 11 May 2016

      Hi John, All the big food retailers (Checkers, Pick n Pay and Woolworths) should stock these while if you’re particularly handy in the kitchen, you could make your own!

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