SPICED MEATBALLS

Serves 4

600g minced beef

100g fresh breadcrumbs

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped, the other peeled but left whole

2 sprigs of rosemary, chopped

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

1 large egg

4 tablespoons olive oil

750g tomato passata

¼ teaspoon dried chilli flakes a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped a small bunch of basil, chopped sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Put the minced beef, breadcrumbs, onion, chopped garlic, rosemary, cumin, coriander, egg and a generous pinch of salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. Use your hands to roll the mixture into small balls roughly the size of a walnut; you should have about 32.

• Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan, add the whole garlic clove and leave over a medium heat for about 3 minutes, until it begins to brown. Add the tomato passata, dried chilli flakes and a little salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer away while you brown the meatballs.

• Heat the remaining olive oil in another large frying pan. Working in batches, cook the meatballs over a high heat, turning them now and again (I find it easiest to do this using 2 spoons), until they are browned all over. Try not to overcrowd the pan. Transfer the cooked meatballs to the pan of tomato sauce and cook for 5–10 minutes, so they soak up the delicious flavours. Generously heap the parsley and basil over the meatballs and serve from the pan, still steaming hot.