Mushroom Meatballs with Homemade Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Mushroom Meatballs:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 250g (9 oz) mushrooms (finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 50g (1¾ oz) mozzarella (grated)
- 50g (1 cup) breadcrumbs (see note 1)
- 1 egg (beaten)
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 800g (28 oz) tinned tomatoes (see note 2)
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon ketchup (or sugar)
- 400ml (1⅔ cups) water or stock
- 1 bay leaf
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- mozzarella (for sprinkling)
Instructions
Mushroom Meatballs:
- Heat the olive oil and butter together in a large pan.
- Chop the onions (finely), and then cook for around five minutes until they soften.
- Add the garlic, mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, cayenne, and oregano, then continue to cook until the mushrooms lose all their liquid (about 5 minutes). Set to one side to cool.
- Mix the mozzarella and breadcrumbs together, then add the cooled mushroom mixture.
- In a separate bowl, beat an egg and stir it in to the other ingredients. Cover and place in the fridge for several hours (or at least one hour).
Sauce:
- Heat up the oil and butter in a pan, and fry the onions for around 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until softened.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, ketchup (or sugar), bay leaf, seasoning and seasoning along with around 400ml of water or stock (I usually just fill one of the empty tomato cans with water and add that).
- Cook until mixture reduces and thickens (around 45 minutes).
Assembly:
- While the sauce is cooking, heat the oven to 225ºC / 437℉, and line a large oven tray with aluminum foil.
- Roll the mushroom mixture into balls (I made 8 but they were large) and place on the tray.
- Bake for around 20 minutes until they are nice and golden (you may need to move them around a bit at the half way mark to ensure they don't stick, but be careful because they are fragile when warm).
- When ready, remove from the oven and let cool for around 5 minutes.
- Place in the pan with the tomato sauce and spoon some over. Please note: the above images show the meatballs sitting on the top, but this was purely for aesthetic purposes when taking the shots.
- Before serving, sprinkle over a little extra mozzarella. Enjoy!
Notes
- I used my own breadcrumbs made from a spelt loaf, but you can use any.
- Tinned tomatoes refer to canned tomatoes (you can use either diced or crushed tomatoes). Alternatively, you can use fresh tomatoes in this recipe.