Ange's Pork & Veal Meatballs

Ange is one of supremely talented kitchen crew at Earthy Market Cafe in Causewayside.

Veal is one of my favourite meats - rose or ruby veal that is. Raised outdoors, alongside their mothers, grazing & feeding naturally ruby veal is full of flavour, delicate texture and is a world away from the box raised, milk feed white veal that once earned the meat such a poor reputation. Chris & Denise at Peelham Farm do a superb job mixing it with their delicious organic pork to make the perfect blend for Italian classic.

As the nights draw in and the weather gets colder this warming dish is an ideal dinner. Easy & quick to make (all the prep only takes 15 minutes and my girls love getting their hands in the bowl to mix up the mince and rolling all the meatballs) I love the smell coming from the oven as it slowly roasts away guaranteeing succulent meatballs that absorb the delicious flavours from the sauce. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Makes 6 generous portions

For the Meatballs

1 packet of Peelhams Organic Pork & Veal mince, 1 packet of Peelhams Organic cooking chorizo (remove meat from skins), 20g garlic puree (peel & grate on a micro grater), 140g spring onions (finely chopped), 5g salt, 50g corriander (roughly chopped), All the zest from large lemon

For the Sauce

2 medium red onions (130g), 2 red chilli’s (25g), 1 tin of Suma Organic cherry tomatoes, 50ml olive oil, 5g salt, 2 cloves garlic (10g), 250g fresh tomatoes (roughly chopped)

Method - Meatballs

Whack all your meatball ingredients into a big bowl and mix together thoroughly. Portion up into golf-ball sized pieces (you should get 18 0r so) and roll into ball shapes. Seal them in a frying pan on a gentle heat (you just want to get them nice & brown all over). Place in an ovenproof dish & pour over your tomato sauce mixture. Cook at 180 C for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meatballs are soft.

Method - Simple Tomato Sauce

Finely slice up the red onions, red chilli's & garlic then gently fry in the olive oil until soft. Roughly chop the tinned & fresh tomatoes and salt then add the to pan, heat until simmering and you are ready to pour over the meatballs.

Serve with your favourite pasta, with some of James's delicious crusty baguette or Ange's favourite - basmati rice.

Dig-in