Super Easy Spaghetti Meatballs

This is one of the first dishes I learnt to cook when I first moved out, and it's become one of my favourite standby recipes for a quick, easy, midweek meal. I love it because the sauce is very versatile, every time I cook it comes out different, depending on what I've got lurking in the fridge!

Serves 2

Basic ingredients:

8 Good quality pork sausages
200g Spaghetti
A red onion
A clove of garlic
A knob of butter
A splash of red wine
A tin of tomatoes

(Optional: carrot, celery, courgette, cinnamon, nutmeg, Worcestershire Sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaves etc.)






Fill a kettle with enough water to cook your pasta - about a litre per 100g. Place in a large pan on the stove on a high heat and add plenty of salt. In "The Geometry of Pasta" Jacob Kenedy suggests 12g per litre.

Put another large pan on a low heat and add the butter. Finely dice the onion and sauté gently in butter for 5-10 minutes until soft. If you're using carrot/celery/courgette, finely dice and add them just after the onion. Finely chop the garlic and add to the pan for a minute or so, being careful not to  let it burn. Add a splash of red wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate a little before adding the tinned tomatoes. Wash the tin with a little water and add this to the pan as well. Leave the sauce on a low to medium heat, you want it to be slowly blipping away - not boiling - but allowing it to reduce a little and develop the flavours.

Put a large frying pan or wok on a high heat ready for the meatballs.

This is where I usually start tasting the sauce and adding the optional ingredients. The sausage meatballs carry a lot of salt into the dish, so I don't usually add salt to the sauce, though you may want to add black pepper. Freshly torn basil lifts the sauce a little, cinnamon and nutmeg add depth of flavour and bay creates a kind of stew/ragù-esque flavour. Go crazy. A little splash of Worcestershire Sauce sends it off in a completely different direction...

Drop the spaghetti into the pan of water and give it a good stir so it doesn't stick.

Put your oven on the lowest setting, get your plates in to warm up and get your table set. Pour yourself a nice cold beer, we're nearly there.

Make sure the frying pan you put on earlier is super hot - if it's too low, the meatballs will stew instead of fry, and end up falling apart and going all mushy. Hold the string of sausages in one hand, and use the other hand to pinch and pull the sausage meat out of the casings into little ready made meatballs. You can do this onto a chopping board and then roll them in your hands, or if you're quick, drop them straight out of the casings into the hot pan with a little cooking oil. Toss the meatballs in the pan or use tongs to keep them moving and evenly cooked. If you have some fresh thyme or oregano, chop it up and toss through the meatballs a few seconds before they're done. Remove from the pan onto a warm plate and keep to one side.

Reserve a cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pan, and stir in the sauce.

Twist the pasta onto the plates using the tongs, try to keep it nice and high! Top with the meatballs and a drizzle of extra virgin.