Meatballs with sweet tomato sauce

To make our meatballs, we use a classic Italian blend of pork and veal mix, perked up with flavourings like lemon zest, parsley, thyme and garlic and onion. A bit of ricotta in the mixture keeps them soft and we use egg but no breadcrumbs to bind.

After hand-rolling them, we roast them in the oven to keep things lean, then simmer them in a sweet, slow-cooked tomato sauce. 

Pork and veal mince, ricotta, egg, lemon zest, thyme, onion, nutmeg, garlic, parsley, olive oil, tomatoes, salt.

• Small:Serves 1 (hungry!)-2 adults with accompaniments
• Large:Serves 3-4 adults with accompaniments

Serve with pasta, polenta or gnocchi, some basil or parsley and lashings of grated Parmesan.

LOW CARB: Serve over a big pile of salad or spiralized zucchini. We like to toss our zucchini noodles in a frying pan with olive oil and salt - lots of recipes call for blanching them but we find that it makes them sad and soggy.