Cooks: Homemade spiced meatballs | The Weekend Post

I made this a couple of weekends ago and you may have seen it on my Instagram. I did say I'd put this recipe up last weekend, but last weekend ended up being a little more hectic than first expected so it's up now. Better late than never. Anyway this is a really simple meatball recipe. I think people have a belief that anything homemade like meatballs or burgers will take a lifetime, and it can but it doesn't have to. I made this on a Saturday for a quick Saturday in front of the tele dinner, which it's perfect for.

You will need:

• Food blender
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 white onion
• 2 teaspoons of dried coriander
• 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 500g of beef mince
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of tomato puree
• 1 vegetable stock pot
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil (better if fresh basil but dried is fine)
• Pasta of your choice for the amount of people (1 handful per person +1)

To begin with you need to blitz the onion, garlic, mince and spices in your food blender. It needs to look almost like a pate as there's no egg in this for binding so if its not really stick and mushy they won't hold together. Don't worry the texture isn't mush although when it's in the food blender the mix will look like something the dog left in the garden for you, but don't be put off. Roll the mixture into balls, I made four for each person  with the ingredients listed above so you can add or reduce depending on how many you're cooking for and how many meatballs you want.

Once you've rolled the mixture into balls pop them in ready heated pan with a little oil and begin browning them off. Whilst the meatballs are cooking you can make your sauce, which is so easy. Empty the tomatoes and puree into a pan and bring it to the boil then add your basil and stock pot and boil until the stock pot has dissolved. These Knorr stock pots are great for creating flavour when you haven't got a whole tonne of time but they're even great when you've got all day to slave over a pan, they create great flavour in sauces, stews and casseroles. Once the stock pot has dissolved bring the sauce to a simmer. You'll need to keep an eye on your meatballs. The best way to turn them is with tongs or a spoons try not to move them too much as they are delicate.

Obviously you need to cook the pasta for this dish. As always I used rigattoni pasta as it's my favourite and as always used a handful per person plus one. So I was cooking for four so used five handfulls. I also made a salad of lettuce, yellow pepper, tomato and cucumber to go along side it and bunged some garlic bread into the oven. Once it's all cooked drain your pasta and serve. Pasta, then meatballs and topped with sauce.

So that's it simple, easy, Saturday night dinner that's fresh, healthy and tasty. Why not give it a try and let me know how you got on?