Who doesn’t love spaghetti and meatballs? It’s such a comforting dish that makes you feel great. But I decided to make a slighter healthier and lighter version. Only because I have consumed nearly an entire chocolate orange cake. But oh well. Balanced diet and all.
I used lean turkey mince and it tasted great. I also made Jamie Oliver’s 7 veg tomato sauce. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly as I didn’t have everything, but followed the concept of making a tomato sauce full of extra vegetables.
I made my sauce with onions, leeks, peppers, carrots, courgettes, celery, garlic, chilli, and tomato tins. I simply chopped and sautéed all the veg until soft and then added two tins of tomato and two tins of water. I let it simmer for about 45 mins and then blitzed it smooth. I had made so much sauce that I froze a few batches ready for next time.
Check out Jamie’s recipe here. It’s a great versatile sauce that can be used for so many different dishes, like pasta, lasagna, chilli con carne and more.
For the meatballs I can’t exactly write a recipe as I just threw it all together. But essentially I had about 400g turkey mince and added a good handful of breadcrumbs, lots of chopped garlic, chopped onion, Dijon mustard, fresh rosemary and parsley, oregano, chilli flakes (I like to add chilli to everything!) and salt and pepper.
I rolled them into meatballs and pan fried them. Once they were browned nicely I added the veg sauce and served with spaghetti. It was delicious! Still comforting but was nice to know it was slightly healthier.
I don’t believe in hiding vegetables in food, but I am all for getting extra veg in a meal wherever possible. So the veg sauce was just a bonus. We had a big salad alongside the spaghetti so only needed a small portion of pasta. And this just made me feel less guilty for having carbs! Why do carbs taste so good? Anyway I’m going off track. Focus.
Have a go and let me know what you think. I really enjoyed this and froze half of the mince to eat another day. Win!
Hope you are all doing well and staying safe during this time. Thanks for reading!
Cook with B... 