Meatballs and spicy tomato pasta
Simple and SO gorgeous, meatballs and pasta with a colourful side salad (always use five or more different salad items) covers a huge range of nutrients.
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 10-15 mins
- Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 200g of good quality minced beef
- 1 free range organic egg
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 50g fresh breadcrumbs
- 2 slices of sourdough bread – crusts removed
- 30ml whole milk
- sea salt and black pepper
- a handful of flat leaf parsley – chopped
- 2 heaped teaspoons of dried oregano
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 small red chilli, chopped
- 250ml of tomato passata
- 2 heaped tablespoons of tomato puree
- pinch of sugar
- linguine or spaghetti, 60-100g per person depending on person size and hungriness!
Nuush clients: Please apply the portion sizes stated in your account and divide the recipe so that you make only as much you need.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Cut the bread into cubes and soak in the milk, discarding any unabsorbed milk.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the mince, parsley, one clove of garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and soaked bread. Mix until firm.
Divide the mix into small balls, slightly smaller than golf-ball size, and evenly place place on an oiled baking tray.
Bake for 8 minutes and drain any surplus oil. Or you can air fry them, or fry them in olive oil on the hob.
For the sauce:
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion, remaining clove of chopped garlic, oregano and chilli and cook for 2 minutes on a medium heat.
Add the passata, the tomato purée, salt and pepper, then the cooked meatballs and simmer gently until the sauce is reduced by about half.
Serve with linguine or spaghetti, plenty of fresh grated parmesan and some scattered basil leaves.
Nutrition Info
Beef
Beef is a good source of vitamin B12, which is key for red blood cell production (tuna, salmon and sardines are actually many times higher in B12 though!). It’s also rich in vitamin B3, which helps to convert food into energy, incidentally mushrooms are also high in B3 and included in this recipe. Adding some vegetables raises the fibre and nutrient profile.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene which is a pokey antioxidant. Antioxidants are like bouncers at a night club, they go around finding stray electrons that are busy causing trouble in your body, and find them a love partner so they can both stay in and cuddle on the sofa.
Tomatoes are also a brilliant source of vitamin C, which supports skin and connective tissue health as well as immunity and iron absorption. The biotin in tomatoes is good for controlling blood sugar.
Find your new natural
The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again.
George Miller
Portion Guidelines
Instead of living with the bore of weighing food, counting points or calories and tapping everything you eat into a phone you can use nature’s custom-designed tool – your hands!
