Saturday Recipe: My Meatballs

1lb or so of Minced Beef. Steak mince is best but cheaper mince will be ok if you're strapped for cash.
2 pork sausages without their skins
1 onion,red or white, finely chopped or minced if you're lucky enough to have a mincer
2 or more garlic cloves, crushed, I have four cloves
As much parsley as will fill your hand, chopped
A huge squeeze of tomato puree
1 pepper, any colour, very very finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 slices of white bread, crumbed without mercy
Basil, either dried or fresh, use however much takes your fancy
Oregano, dried or fresh, although in this case fresh is better
Lots of black pepper, freshly ground is good but the stuff in a pot is ok too
Some salt, rock or table, just don't overdo it.

Mix it all in a big bowl, don't be a tight wad and opt for using a small bowl to save on the washing-up because bits of balls will fly literally everywhere.
OK so you've mixed it up, now what?
Get your hands well floured and when I say well floured I mean well floured. And keep a bowl of flour right by your side because by jolly jingo you're going to need it.
Ready?
Flour your hands and scoop up some of the mixture and now this is where it gets difficult. You have to decide how big a ball you want. Small ones are great for plopping on top of Spaghetti, smaller ones are smashing for loading onto a mound of mash. Your decision.

Decide on ball size.
Then gently rotate between your hands going ever so gently from right to left, not forgetting to flour those mitts. After each ball you'll find you need to flour up, don't be a lazy hound and think you can get away with one flouring because otherwise you'll end up with a ghastly gooey mix all over your lovely hands. Flour flour flour. It's the only way.
You now have in front of you God knows how many balls, so heat up some oil and place the darlings in the pan. Fry very softly for about thirty minutes till they're all brown and starting to crust up.

Make a sauce by blitzing in a blender two large tins of Tomatoes and simmering them in a saucepan with more garlic, more basil, more oregano and more tomato puree. Add some salt, pepper and a good spoonful of sugar. Don't be tempted to leave out the sugar because it really does make a delicious difference. A dash of wine is acceptable too but not essential. Anyway simmer this for a few minutes, nothing awful will happen if you leave it for a tad longer providing you leave the saucepan lid on, if you fail to do this it'll all evaporate away and you'll be left sans sauce.

When you're satisfied that the meatballs are cooked load them onto some pasta or potatoes and decant the sauce into a nice jug. Serve all this up to the wife, hubby or friends with a bowlful of grated cheese. Because Meatballs are so delish and people are piggys remember to have large napkins at the ready failing that I have been known to tuck a T-Towel under my chin.

Happy Eating