Slimming Friendly Italian Meatballs

It is really difficult to beat homemade Italian meatballs when the meatballs are just so juicy, light to the bite and covered with a homemade marinara sauce that is absolutely bursting with flavour.

With just a few little adjustments and healthy swaps, making meatballs in a slimming-friendly way is not difficult to do.

Making the Meatballs:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C / 400 F / Gas mark 6

In a large mixing bowl, add the minced beef, minced pork, onions, chopped herbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, grated garlic, sweet paprika, salt & pepper and using your hands gently combine the mixture. Try not to overwork the mixture.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and using a medium ice cream scoop (if available) scoop a ball of the mixture into your hand and gently roll it into a ball without pressuring together too hard and lay it on the baking sheet.

If you prefer to pan-fry your meatballs instead of oven cooking them, simply shallow fry turning regularly until evenly cooked all over before transferring to the mariner/tomato sauce.

Cook in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes until evenly coloured.

For the Mariner/Tomato Sauce

Add some One-Cal/fry-Light spray olive oil to a skillet pan along with the grated onion, garlic, oregano and chilli flakes. Cook out on medium heat for 2 minutes to release the flavours.

Note: if the pan starts to become a little dry, loosen off with a little water until the onions ate soft and translucent.

Add a tin of cherry tomatoes to the pan along with the and stir through. If you don’t have cherry tomatoes, If you do not have a tin of cherry tomatoes, plum or chopped tomatoes can also be used.

Tinned plum tomatoes have so much more flavour than chopped tomatoes and crushing them with your hands as you add them to the pan is a great way to ensure that you are getting the very best in flavour to your mariner/tomato sauce.

Bring to the boil and add the salt and pepper to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

To bring it all together.

Cook some pasta to the packet instructions. drain the pasta, keeping a cup of pasta water for the sauce. I use Tagliatelli in my dish but you can use any pasta that you prefer.

Add the meatballs to the mariner/tomato sauce to coat and serve with spaghetti or your favourite pasta.

Make your dish look fantastic with a few sprigs of fresh herbs such as basil, thyme or rosemary and some parmesan shavings to finish and enjoy.

Slimming Friendly Italian Meatballs

Recipe by Steve WalkerCourse: Lunch, Main Course, Meat, Pasta, SW Recipes, Slimming Italian MeatballsCuisine: Italian

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

25

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

With a few fresh ingredients, you can easily master the art of making the softest meatballs that are a pleasure to eat and serve to your friends at your next dinner party.

Ingredients

• For the Meatballs

• 250g lean minced beef (5% fat content)

• 250g lean minced Pork

• 1 medium onion (finely diced)

• 2 cloves garlic (grated)

• 1 tbsp basil (chopped)

• 1/2 tsp oregano

• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika

• 1 medium egg

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  

• For the Marinara Sauce

• One-Cal / Fry-Light spray cooking oil

• 1 medium onion (grated)

• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes

• 1 garlic clove (grated)

• 1 tbsp. tomato puree.

• 1 tin cherry tomatoes in sauce

• 1/2 tsp oregano

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  

• Parmesan shavings to garnish the finished dish

• Parmesan shavings and a few herb leaves to garnish the finished dish.

Directions

• For the Meatballs
• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C / 400 F / Gas mark 6
• In a large mixing bowl, add the minced beef, minced pork, onions, chopped herbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, grated garlic, sweet paprika, salt & pepper and using your hands gently combine the mixture. Do not overwork the mixture.
• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and using a medium ice cream scoop (if available) scoop a ball of the mixture into your hand and gently roll it into a ball without pressuring together too hard and lay it on the baking sheet.
  
  Continue to do this until all the mixture has been used up and set the meatballs 1 -2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
• Cook in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes until evenly coloured.
• 
  Meanwhile – For the Mariner/Tomato Sauce
• Add some One-Cal/fry-Light spray olive oil to a skillet pan along with the grated onion, garlic, oregano and chilli flakes. Cook out on medium heat for 2 minutes to release the flavours.
  
  Note: if the pan starts to become a little dry, loosen off with a little water until the onions ate soft and translucent.
• Add the tin of cherry tomatoes to the pan along with the and stir through.
• Bring to the boil and add the salt and pepper to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• 
  Bringing it all together.
• Add the meatballs to the mariner/tomato sauce to coat and serve with spaghetti or your favourite pasta.
• Make your dish look fantastic with a few sprigs of fresh herbs such as basil, thyme or rosemary and some parmesan shavings to finish and enjoy.

Notes

• When forming your meatballs, do not overwork them or they will become quite dense, loosely cup them in your hands to shape to ensure that they remain lovely and light to the bite. (lightly greasing your hands with olive oil helps with the forming process.)
• If you do not have a tin of cherry tomatoes, plum or chopped tomatoes can also be used.
• Tinned plum tomatoes have so much more flavour than chopped tomatoes and crushing them with your hands as you add them to the pan is a great way to ensure that you are getting the very best in flavour to your mariner/tomato sauce.
• If you prefer to pan-fry your meatballs instead of oven cooking them, simply shallow fry turning regularly until evenly cooked all over before transferring to the mariner/tomato sauce.