Pasta with Meatballs

My last meal of Being Twenty-Nine Years Old: a big classic in our family, but we all have slightly different ways of making it. My mum drops pure-mince meatballs into the tomato sauce, letting them cook through as the sauce thickens on the stove; I use fried or baked meatballs containing bread (I love the crispy crust!). My sister likes to stir the spinach into the sauce and scatter feta over the top; I prefer it to combine cooked, wilted spinach with ricotta and leave little quinelles throughout the bake. However, I think we can all agree that penne is exactly the right pasta for this dish, and that it tastes even better the next day. Although maybe not in my case, what with my taste buds suddenly going over the hill...

Here's my version.

Ingredients

• 1kg of meatballs
• 500g tomato sauce (or double, if you like it very tomato-y)
• two large bunches of fresh spinach, wilted and chopped or 250g frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
• 250g of ricotta cheese
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 500g dried penne, cooked according to the packet instructions
• 100g Cheddar or Parmesan, grated

Combine the spinach, cheese, nutmeg and salt together in a bowl. Stir the pasta with the tomato sauce and meatballs and pour into a large baking dish. Using two large tablespoons, take scoops of the ricotta/spinach mixture and push little quinelles into the dish. Scatter over the grated cheese and bake for 25 minutes at 180 C, until golden brown on top and piping hot throughout.

Baked Stuffed Cabbage Parcels

When I was in Cambridge last week, a friend gave me this copy of Delia's 'Frugal Food'. It's interesting enough, especially if you're short on 70s style things to do with lentils and cabbage. Since we'd bought an enormous Savoy for just a dollar, and I had the glorious freedom of an entire day with nothing to do but go for a long walk and cook, it seemed like a good time to figure out something fun and frugal to do. I settled on the 'baked stuffed cabbage parcels'. They really were rather good! Although I did bulk out and spice up the recipe a bit. The photo is taken before I pour over the requisite 400g tin of chopped tomatoes; personally I think it'd be nicer with the topping I describe below.

Ingredients:

• a large head of Savoy or green cabbage
• 75g white rice
• a large white onion
• 400g beef or lamb mince
• three cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• a large handful of parsley, well-washed and finely chopped
• a generous handful of sultanas
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• a 400g tin of white (haricot or borlotti) beans (chick peas might work too)
• a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried red chillis
• a slice or two of bread, or a handful of sunflower seeds

Get a really huge saucepan that you can put the whole cabbage head inside completely. Practice taking it out again with a couple of big spoons or some good strong tongs. When you're happy that you have a good saucepan and a way of getting a hot cabbage head back out again, fill it up with boiling water and submerge the cabbage, preferably stalk-side-up. (I don't know how Delia stops it flipping; mine always went straight over no matter what I did!) Bring back to a boil and simmer for 8 minutes, then remove and drain. (I used the water from this to cook the pasta for another meal, but maybe you could put your feet in it if you're having a particularly cold winter and don't want to let it go to waste? I've no idea.)

Once the cabbage is cool enough to handle, get a nice sharp knife and a big bowl, and work your way around the cabbage, cutting off the leaves as you go. Once the leaves go yellow, you can maybe get three or four, before they become too small to be useful for this recipe. At that stage the texture should be quite crisply blanched, so it would work well cooled and used later in a salad, or served warm straight away with some butter. But it's not useful for the rest of this recipe so find somewhere to put it.

Set the rice cooking in a 2:1 water:rice ratio over a gentle heat. Finely chop and fry the onion for a few minutes, then add the mince and crush in the garlic. Fry for a couple more minutes, then add the cinnamon, thyme, parsley, sultanas, beans, tomato puree, salt and cooked rice. Stir well to combine and turn off the heat.

Put a cabbage leaf on a board or plate so that it curves upward, and slice about three inches of the thick stem away; eat or discard. If you want to make finger-food-sized parcels, slice the entire stem away, and use half-leaves to wrap 3/4--1 1/2 tbsp of mixture; otherwise wrap up 1 1/2--3 tbsp mixture depending on the size of the leaf. You should overlap the leaves enough that the mixture isn't bursting out. Place in a large roasting dish with the foldy bits at the bottom.

Meanwhile, (perhaps your sous-chef can help), heat the tin of chopped tomatoes with the oregano and chilli. Puree with a hand-blender into a fine sauce. (A good passatta will do equally well here.) Pour the tomato sauce over the tray of parcels, making sure to coat all of the leaves (they will go black wherever not covered by tomatoes). Bake for an hour, until the leaves are very tender and the sauce has reduced to a fine covering. Blend the bread into fine breadcrumbs, toss with a little olive oil; cover the tomato sauce and bake for a further ten minutes until crisp. Alternatively, serve with some toasted sunflower seeds.

Meatballs and Tomato Sauce

Yesterday's meal still needs a bit of refinement before I post it. I got it from the Observer Food Monthly and it was ok... just a bit bland. I did everything I could to jazz it up but, meh. By contrast the meal I cooked for my fiancée was good, maybe a bit fiddly, but I think my execution of it was poor. So a couple to work on again another time.

In the meantime, here's a classic that simply works. The meatball recipe is foolproof and makes loads of lovely tasty meatballs that freeze well, and you can vary the flavourings with whatever you have to hand or feel like. My suggestions would be:

• pork, ginger and chilli
• lamb and mint
• beef and mustard
• lamb, beef and rosemary
• chicken and lemongrass

The recipe below is a simple generic Italian style that works with any pasta sauce; I actually made a big batch a few days ago and just took 10 out of the freezer this morning. My family loves to layer them in a deep casserole dish with cooked pasta, tomato sauce, ricotta cheese and wilted spinach, then top with cheese and bake for half an hour. As a fast weekday meal after walking out to vote, tonight we served them simply with tomato sauce and pasta - and I felt like peas, so I made peas!

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

Meatballs and tomato sauce

• 3-4 slices stale bread
• a good chunk of parmesan
• a small bunch of parsley
• 500g beef mince
• 500g pork mince
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• milk

For the tomato sauce:

• 1 red onion
• 1 large clove of garlic
• a splash of red wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

Meatballs fresh from
the oven

Whiz the bread in a food processor in batches until it forms medium-coarse breadcrumbs, removing each batch to a very large mixing bowl as it is done. To one or two of the batches, add the leaves of the parsley and grate in the chunk of parmesan. Put the pork and beef mince directly into the mixing bowl - blending them would give you a very finely minced, bland meatball. Add the egg and season well with black pepper.

Using your hands, combine the ingredients; you're aiming for a texture where the mixture sticks well to itself but not to the sides of the bowl. If your bread is very stale, you may need to add a tablespoon or so of milk, but be careful not to make the mixture sloppy. When the mixture is well-combined, but not completely homogeneous, form meatballs of your desired size. I like them large, rather than bite-sized; if you like them small, make sure to reduce the cooking time later.

From here you can either fry the meatballs in batches, which can take awhile if you're making a large batch, or you can roast them in a 220 C oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on all sides. Allow them to cool if freezing, or use straight away with, for example, the tomato sauce:

Finely chop the red onion and gently fry it in a deep-sided frying pan until translucent and beginning to colour. Crush in the clove of garlic and cook for a further minute, stirring halfway to make sure it doesn't stick. Pour in a splash of red wine and deglaze the pan, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, checking that the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom. If it appears watery, remove the lid and allow the steam to escape; if it is very dry then add a splash of hot water. For the last two minutes, add the meatballs and allow them to heat through in the sauce (or five minutes if cooking from chilled). Serve with a long pasta like tagliatelle or spaghetti, torn basil, and plenty of parmesan cheese at the table.

Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Lasagne

One of my two favourite vegetarian lasagne recipes, this combines sweet roasted pumpkin with soft goats cheese and a garlicy tomato sauce into a taste explosion. I've adapted it from my memory of a Nigella Lawson recipe; hers is in her Christmas book and uses butternut squash. As usual, I used a Crown Prince - still £3 per 4 kg pumpkin in the market!

Ingredients:

• 1.2-1.4 kg good pumpkin, unpeeled weight
• 2 tsp dried or fresh thyme or rosemary
• 1 white onion
• 1 red onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 glass of white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 x 400g tins of tomatoes (chopped or plum)
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 250g of fresh lasagne sheets, or 180g dried
• 375g of soft, white rindless goat's cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Peel the pumpkin, discard any string and seeds, and chop into large (~1.5") pieces. Toss with the herbs, 1 tsp of salt and a little vegetable oil; roast at 200C for 35 minutes until tender and caramelised. Meanwhile, finely chop the onions and fry over a low heat for 10 minutes, until softened. Crush in the cloves of garlic and cook for a further minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and stir until the alcohol evaporates. Add the bay leaves, tomatoes and tomato purée; cover and bring to a simmer, then cook uncovered for 20 minutes until the tomatoes have broken up and the sauce has reduced by about 10%. Season to taste.

Pre-cook your lasagne sheets if they demand it. Slice the goat's cheese into rough ~cm-thick circles. In a deep lasagne dish, add:

1. a few tbsp of tomato sauce
2. lasagne
3. tomato sauce
4. half of the roast pumpkin
5. lasagne
6. tomato sauce
7. half of the goat's cheese circles
8. lasagne
9. tomato sauce
10. the rest of the pumpkin
11. a layer of lasagne
12. tomato sauce
13. the rest of the goat's cheese circles
14. a layer of lasagne
15. a few tbsp of tomato sauce
16. a generous grating of Parmesan cheese

(This is why I use a deep lasagne tray!) Cook in the oven at 170 C for 45 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting: if you can make this an hour ahead, it tastes better for it. It also keeps excellently in a cool place; somehow the flavours become even more sweet and delicious over time. We usually reheat it in pieces in the microwave, but if you plan to make it for guests on the following day, then you can cook it for 35 minutes the first time, chill until needed, then cook again in the oven for 35 minutes, rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

Tonight we served it with a shredded gem lettuce and a splash of balsamic vinegar, and garlic bread. I've never made garlic bread before, so I followed the excellent Joy of Cooking instructions. Take a baguette and slice it width-wise into circular coins - but don't cut all the way through the bread. Melt a few slices of butter in the microwave, and crush in a clove of garlic per person. Open each gap between the bread 'coins' and spoon in a little garlicy butter. Wrap in foil and bake at 200 C for twenty minutes, then bring to the table and unwrap in a cloud of garlicy steam. Yum!