Pasta with Italian meatballs

Ingredients:

2.1 oz. (60 g) Prima Donna maturo, in flakes
14.1 oz. (400 g) (fresh) spaghetti

Ingredients for meat balls:

1.4 oz. (40 g) Prima Donna maturo, grated
14.1 oz. (400 g) ground beef
0.9 oz. (25 g) pine nuts, roasted and roughly chopped
4 leaves of fresh sage, finely chopped
½  a cup of bread crumbs
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
4 tbs. ricotta
3 tbs. olive oil

Ingredients for tomato sauce:

2 cloves of garlic
8 ripe vine tomatoes
0.5 oz. (15 g) fresh basil
2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, very finely chopped
2 tbs. oregano
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
100ml red wine
1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 tbs. soft brown sugar
2.6 oz. (75 ml) vegetable broth
3 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
1 sweet pepper, in pieces
salt and freshly milled pepper

Suggested variation: add a few fresh olives or capers to the sauce.

Preparation method:

Peel the garlic and chop finely. Cut a cross in the tomatoes and place these in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Plunge them into cold water, peel off the skin and cut them into chunks.

Finely chop half of the basil. Heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and fry the onion. Add the garlic, oregano, finely chopped basil and the red bell pepper. Allow this to stew for 5 minutes with the lid on the pan. Add the wine, vinegar, sugar and broth and allow this to reduce by half.

Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces and add the fresh tomato chunks and sweet pepper to the sauce. Let this to simmer for another 15 minutes.

Prepare the spaghetti according to the instructions. Blend the pine nuts, sage, Prima Donna maturo, bread crumbs, garlic and the ricotta with the ground beef. Season the mix to taste with salt and pepper. Roll out balls of around 3cm in diameter. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the meat balls for around 10 minutes until brown and cooked. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper if so desired. Drain the spaghetti and divide this between the plates. Pour the tomato sauce and the Italian meat balls on top of this. Garnish with the rest of the fresh basil and some fresh Prima Donna maturo shavings.

Wine tip:

fruity red wine