Meat balls in tomato sauce and noodles, is real comfort food. There is nobody who doesn’t like juicy, tasty meatballs snuggling in a rich tomato sauce, surrounded by noodles! And these meat balls contain vegetables for extra flavor and goodness.
Ingredients for the meat balls 250 gr. ground meat (veal, beef or pork) 2 slices of brown bread soaked in water and then squeezed well ½ cup breadcrumbs 1 egg 1 onion grated 1 clove garlic minced 1 carrot grated 1 small or half a large turnip grated 1/3 cup parsley ¼ teaspoon hot paprika (or as much as you like) A little ginger 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoons vinegar Salt, pepper
Ingredients for the Tomato sauce 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion chopped up ½ cup wine 2 large ripe tomatoes chopped up or grated 1 clove of garlic minced ½ teaspoon allspice 1 stick cinnamon A little oregano Salt, pepper 500 gr. noodles 2 tablespoons butter or margarine Grated cheese
Directions
In a bowl, mix very well all the ingredients for the meat balls. Place the mixture in the fridge for half an hour. Put a little oil in a baking pan. Take the ground meat mixture out of the fridge and form small balls, approximately the size of large walnuts. Place them in the prepared pan in neat rows and bake in a preheated oven at 180o C for about 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Turn them over and bake them a little longer until they are brown all over. Remove the meat balls from the pan and keep them until the sauce is ready.
In a pan, sauté the onion in the oil until transparent. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates. Add the tomato and the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of water, the butter or margarine and bring to the boil. Add the meatballs.
Empty the sauce in a large pan and add the noodles. Stir the noodles and put the pan in the oven and bake at 180o C. Stir the noodles again about 5 minutes later. Add a little water if necessary. Check the noodles about every 5 minutes and stir, because the top may burn, and add a little water each time if necessary. Check the seasonings and taste to see if the noodles are cooked. Don’t let them dry out and there must be some sauce in the pan.
Dish up the noodles and place some meat balls on top and drizzle some sauce. If you wish, you can add some grated cheese. Serve with a nice green salad, feta cheese and fresh, crusty bread.