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.

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.