Anyone for Meatballs?

-->

Anyone for Meatballs?

I have been on a small quest to find ready-made meatballs that aren’t full of rubbish and are good enough for the children (and me) to eat. I’m pleased to say I do often make my own but sometimes I haven’t always got the time or the inclination to cook from scratch.

I have tried a few of the offerings in the supermarkets but never feel comfortable with all those extra added ingredients. I’m sure given the right situation, Sodium Metabisulphite is a lovely E number (it does go in to preserving some wines which is of course OK), but I just don’t want it in my meatballs!

Last week I took a break from the meatball quest and took a trip to Ikea with my lovely friend Mrs G. Our excuse for going was to buy some ‘storage’ but, our real reason was the offer of an hour’s free childcare in their lovely on-site play centre. Anyway, whilst there, I accidentally discovered the Ikea frozen meatballs in the food shop. I expected them to be full of rubbish but was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually OK. They were so OK, that this week we have eaten them twice!

I seem to have an inbuilt sense of guilt when it comes to feeding the children healthy home made food. It feels like someone is watching me, although I have no idea who and I find it hard to relax my attitude about giving them anything not home made. To compensate for my constant guilt, I make my own tomato sauce when I give them shop-bought meatballs. Suddenly, those frozen meatballs are guilt free!

The sauce is easy to make, great to freeze and can be used for so many things. It makes a great simple sauce for pasta or a base for Bolognese. In fact, a really easy meal idea from my writer friend Ms H, is spaghetti served with the tomato sauce and frankfurters (not the tinned ones!). Just cook the frankfurters, chop them into chunks and stir them in to the sauce. Incredibly easy and the children love it.

For the All round Tomato Sauce you really can add pretty much any veg to it once you have the base (grated Courgette works really well). This will serve 4 with a second serving to freeze for later. Freeze it in small portions so you have more flexibility about what you use it for and when.

Heat some Olive Oil (or Rapeseed) in a saucepan and add 1 small chopped Onion and 2 finely sliced Garlic Cloves and gently fry for 5 minutes or until soft. Add a finely diced stick of Celery and one finely diced Carrot and again gently fry for about 10 minutes until soft. Add 2 tins of chopped Plum Tomatoes. If you have a couple of fresh tomatoes rolling about in the fridge, chop them up and add them too. Add a small handful of fresh Basil (or teaspoon of dried if you don't have fresh). If you don't have Basil you could add something else. Mixed herbs or favourites such as Oregano and Marjoram are just as good. Grind in some Black Pepper and add 2 tablespoon of Tomato Puree. Taste and add more herbs and pepper if you need to. Then heat the sauce until bubbling and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Once the sauce is cooled, and the tomatoes have broken down and thickened it's ready to serve. If your children like a smoother sauce you could blend it either in your food processor or with a hand-held blender.

Enjoy!