Summer Meatballs Recipes

Steps:

• Heat ½ tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and soften for 5 mins, then add the garlic and fennel and cook for 2 mins longer. Tip into a bowl. Add the pork mince, parsley stalks and grated courgette to the bowl, season well, mix, and shape into 10 meatballs. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan, add the meatballs and fry for 5-8 mins, turning occasionally, until golden brown and cooked through. Set the pan aside.
• Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti for 1 min less than pack instructions. Using tongs, transfer the pasta to the pan of meatballs, sloshing in some of the cooking water as you go. Add the courgette ribbons to the pan and put it back over the heat. Toss the pasta and meatballs with the courgette ribbons in the pan with a ladleful of pasta water and add the lemon juice. Season well, tip into bowls and scatter over the chopped parsley leaves, lemon zest and a generous grating of parmesan.

Steps:

• To prepare sauce: in bowl of a food processor, combine onion, garlic, celery, carrot and lemon zest. Process until minced. Place large saucepan or flameproof casserole over medium-low heat, and add oil and butter. Add minced vegetables and salt to taste. Sauté gently until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes.
• Add sugar, passata and 2 cups water. Cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Add milk, and cook, uncovered, 15 minutes more. Meanwhile, begin preparing meatballs.
• To prepare meatballs: in a large bowl, combine ground turkey, ground pork, bread crumbs, garlic and egg; mix well. Add pecorino, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until thoroughly blended.
• Line a large baking sheet with plastic wrap. Dampen hands with cold water, and roll rounded teaspoonfuls of meatball mixture, placing meatballs on sheet; there should be about 80. Add meatballs to simmering sauce, shaking pan gently to make room as they are dropped in; do not stir. Simmer, partly covered, until meat is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.
• To serve, transfer meatballs and sauce to a serving bowl, and sprinkle with pine nuts and whole basil leaves. Serve, if desired, with cooked rice, garnishing each serving with more pine nuts and chopped basil.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix together ginger, garlic, cumin and salt. Add pork, panko and basil. Using your hands, gently mix everything together, making sure not to overwork the mixture. (Otherwise, the meatballs get tough.) Form into 1 1/4-inch balls.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high, then add the oil and let it heat up until it thins out. Add meatballs in one layer. Cook, turning and shaking the pan, until meatballs are browned all over, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Pour the wine into the skillet and move meatballs over to one side of the pan, scraping up the browned bits. Add peaches, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons water to the empty side of pan. When peaches are simmering, cover the pan, lower the heat to medium, and let cook until the meatballs are no longer pink at their centers, and the peaches juicy and tender, about 5 to 10 minutes longer.
• Uncover the pan. If the mixture seems too runny, let it cook down for another minute or so. The peaches should break down into a chunky sauce. Hard or unripe peaches may take a few extra minutes.
• Add the onions to the pan and mix them in so they wilt slightly. Squeeze lime juice all over everything, then taste and add salt and lime juice, as needed. Sweeter peaches will need more lime juice, tart ones, less.
• Serve the meatballs sprinkled with more cumin and garnished with torn basil leaves, over the rice or greens.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the mince in a bowl, season well and add the crushed garlic. Mix together with your hands, then shape into small meatballs - roughly the size of a cherry tomato. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan, add the meatballs and fry for 10-15 mins until golden brown. Meanwhile, tip the tomatoes into a roasting tin with the whole garlic cloves and the remaining oil. Season and roll around the tin until well coated in oil, then roast for 15 mins.
• While the meatballs and tomatoes cook, use a spiralizer - I used the finer noodle attachment - or a julienne peeler to create courgette noodles. Once cooked, tip the meatballs into the roasting tin with the tomatoes, fish out the garlic and set aside, then cover the tin with foil to keep warm.
• Wash the frying pan. Heat another 1 tbsp oil in the pan, squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins into the pan and mash with a fork. When sizzling, add the crème fraîche, lemon zest and some seasoning. Add the courgetti and toss in the pan for 30 secs until warmed through - any longer and it will wilt. Remove the pan from the heat, and tip in the meatballs, tomatoes and any juices from the tin. Toss together and scatter with pine nuts, basil and Parmesan, if you like.