This is one of the recipes that is worth preparing from start to finish. If you have time, an afternoon is fine, I advise you to make the fresh pasta as well as the tomato sauce yourself. If you don't have it or you simply don't want to do it, as long as you prepare the meatballs and buy a good tomato sauce and fresh pasta, you will succeed with this recipe anyway.

You can make this meatball recipe without including it in a pasta dish, we prepare them as such and then mash them as if they were minced meat.

Fennel meatballs recipe

Ingredients

• 500 g minced beef
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 250 ml whole milk
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chopped chilli
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon mushroom powder (ceps for example)
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1 cup parmesan powder
• extra virgin olive oil for frying
• 250 ml tomato sauce (homemade or purchased)

Preparation

We line a tray with parchment paper. We combine all the ingredients for the meatballs except the frying oil and tomato sauce; We mix gently with our hands, combining the ingredients evenly.

We wash our hands and spread them with a little oil, this will help us form the balls of the meatballs, we will give them the size of golf balls. We will arrange them on the tray that we have prepared previously. We cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Once the time has passed, we will fry the meatballs in a large enough non-stick saucepan (we have used the saucepan from the Monix Mandarina collection , made of enameled steel and coated on the inside with non-stick Teflon). We will add them to the olive oil when it is hot but not smoking over medium-high heat, we brown them on all sides, about 7-10 minutes in total. Once they are golden, pour in the tomato sauce and cook over medium-low heat. Once the meatballs are ready, remove them from the saucepan and set aside.

In the same saucepan where we prepared the meatballs, without washing, we will cook the pasta, we will only have to add water, heat until it boils and cook the pasta according to the manufacturer's cooking time. One minute before the recommended time, we will remove half a cup of the cooking water and reserve it. Strain the pasta and mix it in the same saucepan again with a splash of the cooking water so that it is shiny. We add the meatballs along with the tomato sauce and mash them into the spaghetti.

We serve and sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese powder and parsley. And to enjoy!

Recipe via Local Milk