Serves: 6-8
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1kg veal or pork mince
- 500g Swiss brown mushrooms, minced or blended in a food processor
- 1/3 cup basil leaves, chopped
- 1 bunch thyme, leaves removed
- 1 tbs chopped sage leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 eggs
- 100g parmesan cheese, finely grated
Sauce
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 3 red onions, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- Pinch ground nutmeg
- 250ml red wine
- 3kg Roma tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup basil, chopped
Method
- Mix together all the meatball ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Roll into balls and put on a tray. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Sauce: Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and nutmeg and sauté 5-8 minutes until soft. Add red wine to deglaze the pan and once bubbling, add tomatoes and cook 20-30 minutes until sauce has thickened and tomatoes softened. Pour in chicken stock and bring to the boil. Simmer 10 minutes or until desired sauce consistency is reached. Remove from the heat, add basil and season to taste.
- Preheat oven 200°C/180°C fan forced. Ladle sauce into an ovenproof dish. Add the meatballs, poking them into the sauce but leaving approx 1 cm of meat exposed. Transfer to oven, bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.
- Serve topped with extra parmesan and basil leaves. Serve with wet polenta or pasta and a salad.
