Speedy Meatballs in Red Wine Sauce
4
peopleServes
10
minutesPreparation Time
25
minutes Stove TopCooking Time
Ingredients
- 500 g good quality Italian style pork sausages
- 2 tbsp (40 mL) olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- ½ cup (125 mL) red wine
- 1 x 700 mL bottle tomato passata
- 1 cup (250 mL) water
- 1 x 40 g sachet McCormick Slow Cookers Beef & Red Wine Casserole Recipe Base
- ⅓ bunch fresh parsley, leaves picked and chopped (plus extra to serve)
- 400 g spaghetti dry pasta, cooked to pack directions
- grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Cut the sausages open at one end and squeeze out the sausage meat into small-medium sized meatballs. Set aside. (Approx. 6 meatballs from each sausage).
- Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan with lid, over a MED-HIGH heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add the meatballs to the pan and cook, stirring for 3 minutes or until lightly brown.
- Add the wine and passata, using the water to rinse the passata jar, adding to pan. Then stir in the recipe base. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add parsley to sauce and toss cooked hot pasta through the sauce. Serve topped with additional parsley and parmesan cheese.
Recipe Tip
Squeeze sausage meat into mini meatballs, make the sauce and then using fresh lasagne pasta sheets and cheese, layer up a deliciously different lasagne.
How to Incorporate Leftovers
· When cooking mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) add raw leftover veggies here like zucchini, silverbeet, broccoli or cauliflower. If leftover veggies are already cooked, add to sauce in Step 3 before simmering.
· When tossing pasta through hot sauce, add leftover leafy greens here like baby spinach or rocket.
· Replace pork sausages with leftover diced steak or beef mince. If raw, follow the same steps for cooking the meatballs. If already cooked, add protein to pan with passata before simmering.
· Replace pasta with any leftover cooked rice or canned legumes like chickpeas or kidney beans – toss through sauce in step 3 before simmering.
