This recipe was the result of a craving for good old fashioned comfort food! I’m not usually a big fan of meatballs but these are just divine (even if I do say so myself)! I’m so excited for you to try this – it’s definitely one the whole family will love!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons of ricotta
• 80g fresh breadcrumbs
• 350g lean minced beef

Gravy

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 pint of beef stock
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons red wine
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley

To make the meatballs

1. Heat some olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent. Then add the butter and stir for a minute. Finally, add the chopped parsley, stir for a minute and remove from the heat. Leave to cool completely.
2. In the meantime, mix the rest of the meatball ingredients together in a large bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the cooled onions and garlic and mix together again.
3. Roll into around 20 smallish meatballs and put to the side while you make the sauce.
4. Heat a little olive oil and butter over medium heat and add the diced onion. When the onion is almost softened, add the carrot and cook for another few minutes. Then add the garlic and stir for a minute.
5. Add in the extra tablespoon of butter and stir until melted. Then add the flour and stir together for a minute.
6. Add the beef stock and stir continuously for around 5 minutes, to ensure the sauce thickens but that there are no lumps of flour. Then add the rest of the gravy ingredients. Allow the sauce to simmer gently on a low heat for around 30 minutes, stirring every now and then to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
7. In the meantime, heat some olive oil in the bottom of a large frying pan (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add half the meatballs. Cook on all sides (around 7-8 minutes altogether), watching carefully so they don’t burn.
8. Once the first batch is done, add them to the sauce and cook the next batch. When the second batch is done, add them to the pot, cover with a lid and leave to simmer gently on a low heat, stirring very gently every now and then to make sure nothing sticks to the pot but also to make sure you don’t break up the meatballs with the spoon.
9. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, but an hour would be ideal to get a lovely thick creamy sauce.
10. Serve with fluffy mashed potatoes.