Spaghetti and Meatballs

This morning, after dropping R off at nursery, I decided to cook our evening meal.  I miss cooking and the late nights at work are depriving me of the opportunity, so I grabbed this one with both hands.  I needed something that I could cook to completion but that wouldn't be harmed by being left and warmed up again later.  For some reason we had two packets of mince in the freezer so I pulled one of those out and got thinking.

I fancied pasta and spaghetti bolognese was the obvious choice, but that wouldn't slake my thirst for cooking.  Using the same ingredients I decided to make meatballs.  I started with the sauce, frying onions, garlic and celery until soft in olive oil.  I then added a glass of red wine, tomato purée, dried basil and oregano, a pinch of chilli flakes and finally a couple of tins of tomatoes.  I let this cook away for about an hour and a half before taking it off the heat.  I then blended it into a smooth sauce and set it to one side.

With the sauce made I turned my attention to the mince.  I like my meatballs to be relatively un-messed about with.  All I added to the mince was some fried onion, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Because I had the time I even fried off a bit of the meat so that I could test the seasoning.  Happy with the flavour I rolled golf ball sized lumps of meat and dropped them straight into the sauce.  I then cooked the whole lot together on the lowest flame possible for a couple of hours, turned off the heat and went to work.

When I got back home, Z had reheated the meatballs, saving some for R's tea tomorrow, and cooked some spaghetti.  All that was left was to serve the spaghetti and meatballs and grate some parmesan cheese over the top.  I now only have a couple of days of non-cooking before the weekend.  It is meant to be a weekend of food in Leeds but I don't think I'll see much of the Food Festival. We'll just have to wait and see.