Autumn finally arrived.
The morning air is now cool and crisp, the skies are clear and blue and each evening we snuggle under the throw nestled together on the sofa.
And with the cooler weather comes the need for a little wholesome hearty cooking so today we spent the day rolling together these beautiful polpette.
Polpette are italian meatballs, gently cooked in simmering tomato sauce and they are delicious. Spiked with breadcrumbs, garlic, parmesan, basil and a little tomato passata they are moist, full of flavour and the perfect autumnal dinner.
We served our meatballs with a little spaghetti and the kids absolutely loved them.
Eating pasta, especially the red sauce variety is very messy work so I was so pleased to discover the messy mealtime smock by Little Chomps.
This wonderful smock is designed by a gorgeous Aussie mum and is perfect for baby led weaning! Not only is it waterproof, wipeable, machine-washable, and provide better all-round protection for sleeves, laps and sides than other sleeved bibs or cotton feeding smocks but it doesn’t have that silly plastic bag sound that so many other smocks do. In the past I have tried other smocks but my little ones were too distracted with the sound of the plastic rather than eating which was totally frustrating. Mr H. absolutely loves his new smock and I do too! Yay to less washing! I’ll also be hosting a giveaway for these gorgeous smocks very soon so please stay tuned!
To create your own spaghetti polpette simply…
Begin by placing the mince, breadcrumbs, garlic, tomato passata, basil, parmesan and eggs into a large mixing bowl.
Using a rubber spatula (or clean hands) stir the mixture until thoroughly combined.
Take heaped tablespoons of the mixture and shape into balls.
Place the tomato passata, chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and sugar into a large non stick frypan and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat. Add the polpette and cook gently for 30 minutes or until just cooked through. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to packet instructions, or until aldente. Drain and set aside.
Place the drained cooked spaghetti back into the saucepan and add enough sauce to coat the spaghetti.
Toss to combine.
Place the spaghetti into a large serving dish, top with polpette and fresh basil leaves and serve immediately. Enjoy x
spaghetti polpette
adapted from SBS Food
Note: This recipe makes approx. 60 polpette. Once cooked, I divided my polpette and sauce into 3 equal portions and froze 2 portions for the coming weeks. If you do not wish to make enough to freeze, simply halve all of the ingredients (except the spaghetti).
INGREDIENTS
500 grams beef mince
500 grams pork mince
3 cups (345 grams) dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parmesan, grated
1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped
3 eggs
500 grams spaghetti
700 mls tomato passata
2 x 400 gram tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
extra basil leaves, to serve
METHOD
Place the beef mince, pork mince, bread crumbs, garlic, parmesan, basil, eggs and 4 tablespoons of tomato passata into a large mixing bowl and mix (either with a rubber spatula or clean hands) until thoroughly combined. Take heaped tablespoons of the mince mixture and shape into balls. Heat a non stick frypan over low-medium heat. Add the remaining tomato passata, chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and sugar and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the polpette and cook gently for 30 minutes or until just cooked through. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to packet instructions or until aldente. Drain and place back into the saucepan. Add enough tomato sauce to coat the spaghetti and mix to combine. Place the spaghetti into a serving dish, top with polpette and fresh basil leaves and serve immediately. Place the remaining polpette into a freezer safe container, allow to cool to room temperature and pop into the deep freeze for up to 3 months. Enjoy x
You may also like…
baked meatballs w’ simple tomato sauce
greek inspired lamb meatballs
ricotta fritters w’ tomato basil sauce
I make a very similar recipe to these but add a grated zucchini to the mince for extra sneaky veg!
I luv this receipe I make a Simaliar receipe with some cooked rice in the mince mixture & instead of pasta sauce I use a large can of tomatoe soup &I I stir some low fat cream threw it just before serving &I I serve with pasta or rice very delicious😀
We had spaghetti meatballs last night! I cheat and squeeze the meat out of sausages to make my meatballs sometimes then add garlic, passata, capsicum and eggplant with a little red wine and pepper. Perfect for this cooler weather. Those smocks look great!
When do you add the eggs?
Just made these for tomorrow’s dinner, I cheated and used a food processor so I’m hoping they still turn out ok and don’t fall apart!
This was delicious and devoured by everyone!
Where did you get that smock from?? Such a great idea 😊
Just ordered two smocks from your recommendation – on their way to London! 🙂
I went and bought a chomps smock after seeing your lad (assuming same age as mine – 8mths) in it. Absolutely brilliant. This has been a saviour as I have tried a little BLW with him (more than I did with my first now 4yo).
I haven’t made these meatballs yet but they are on the list (all except our 4yo loved the zucchini corn cheese muffins) – we are trying brussell sprouts tonight – how have they gone with your kids?