veal and sage meatballs in a rich tomato sauce

With the cooler temperatures and the first bit of rain my herb bed has been loving life. As a result I have been on the look out for recipes which require large bunches of herbs, and preferably also satisfy my sudden urge for comfort food. In the latest edition of Gourmet Traveller I spotted this recipe for delicious looking veal and sage meatballs baked in a tomato sauce and served on a bed of creamy polenta. It definitely ticked the comfort food box and to top it off it was under the 'gourmet fast' section which made it the perfect end to a long day at work.

The recipe calls for veal mince which I thought might require a trip to the butchers but was pleasantly surprised to find it in the meat section of my local supermarket. If you don't happen to come across it so easily you could substitute it for good quality beef mince, however the veal is delicious! The recipe also calls for canned cherry tomatoes, however I decided to just use fresh cherry tomatoes, and I was feeling a bit lazy so decided not to make fresh breadcrumbs and the recipe didn't seem to suffer for it.

ingredients

     -   Olive oil
     -   1 onion, chopped
     -   3 garlic cloves, crushed
     -   400g canned cherry tomatoes
     -   250ml tomato passata
     -   250g veal mince
     -   250g pork mince
     -   20g fresh white breadcrumbs
     -   40g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
     -   1 tbsp sage, finely chopped
     -   2 tsp thyme, finely chopped
     -   2 tsp oregano, finely chopped

     -   500ml milk
     -   180g instant polenta
     -   30g butter, coarsely chopped
     -   30g Pecorino Romano, finely grated

method

To start preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and place a heavy based pot on the stove over a medium to high heat. Saute the onions and half the garlic until soft, then add the cherry tomatoes and passata to the pot and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile combine the veal and pork mince, the rest of the garlic, breadcrumbs, pecorino romano and herbs in a bowl and season lightly. Once all the ingredients are well mixed begin to form the mixture in to individual meatballs approximatley 2-3cm in diameter.

Once you have formed the meatballs heat some olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and add the meatballs, turning often to brown them all over. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your frying pan. The meatballs should not take long to brown, only a couple of minutes, and you are not aiming to cook them through. Once the meatballs are browned add them to the pot with the tomato sauce and make sure they are completely covered. 

Next place a lid on the pot and pop it into the oven to finish cooking the meatballs through, this should take approximately 10 mins. You don't want to overcook the meatballs or else they will not be as tender, however just check they are cooked all the way through by cutting a meatball in half when you remove them from the oven.

While the meatballs are baking combine the milk and 600ml of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium high heat. Once it is boiling gradually begin adding the polenta to the saucepan while constantly whisking. Once all the polenta is added continue whisking until the mixture has thickened and has a porridge like consistency (2-3mins). Then remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the butter and pecorino romano. Then season the polenta to taste, I find polenta generally requires quite a lot of salt.

Serve the polenta and meatballs with some extra fresh sage and cheese.