Smokey Spicy Meatballs & Basil Pasta

Ingredients
For the sauce;
  • Tinned chopped tomato's.
  • White onion.
  • Sweet pepper.
  • Red chilli.
  • Garlic.
  • Butter.
  • Red Wine.
  • Worcestershire Sauce.
  • Beef stock cube.
  • Fresh parsley.
  • Pepperami.
  • Single cream.
For the pasta;
  • Fresh pasta (linguine, fettucine, spaghetti).
  • Olive oil.
  • Fresh Basil.
Instructions
Smokey you say? Yep, something slightly different to your normal meatballs! 

Serves 2.
Start with the sauce.
  1. Start by finely chopping approx 2/3 the onion. Place in a pan with a knob of butter on a very low heat.
  2. Finely chop the sweet pepper, add to the onions. Give it all a good stir.
  3. Dry fry a glove or 2 of garlic. When the skin has browned, take of the heat, remove skin and mash it up with a fork or the back of a spoon. Add to onions and peppers. Give it another good stir. You want to make it sweat without actually cooking it.
  4. Crush half the stock cube into the pan, stir.
  5. Add the tinned chopped tomato's.
  6. Season with black pepper. Stir.
  7. Chuck in a few glugs of Worcestershire Sauce (Lee & Perrins) and a generous glug of red wine (approx half a glass). Stir.
  8. Chop the parsley and chilli as fine as possible. Add to the pan. Stir.
  9. Add little amount of cream and stir. Keep doing this until you are happy with the consistency of the sauce.
  10. Once it has settled and started to simmer, finely chop a single pepperami. Be careful - "its a bit of an animal!". Add to the pan. Stir, cover and let simmer very very gently. This is where your smokey flavour will come from.
Meatballs;
  1. Gently fry your meatballs. They wont need to be cooked all the way through.
  2. Chuck on a little black pepper for good measure!
Note: I have deliberately left out how to make meatballs as you can do this to your own taste.

  1. Once the meatballs are sealed, move them onto your prep surface to rest for a bit so any excess fat can get out.
  2. Start to preheat your oven to 200c.
  3. Add the meatballs to an oven proof dish, pour the souce over the top making sure they are covered. Pop in the oven.
Now start on the pasta;
  1. After filling your pan/pot with water, add some salt and a glug of olive oil.
  2. When the water is boiling - cook the pasta as normal.
  3. Pop a pasta bowl or plates in the oven.
  4. Chop the fresh basil as finely as possible.
  5. Drain the pasta.
  6. Add a glug of olive oil and the basil to the pasta.
  7. Stir well, cover and let rest.
Serve it;
  1. Get the meatballs and pasta bowl/plates out of the oven.
  2. Plate up - pasta then meatballs.

Enjoy.