Tagliatelle Pasta with Spicy Herbed Meatballs

Tagliatelle Pasta

Todays pasta is a variety of Italian egg pasta. I love to shop, have I ever mentioned that on the blog? 🙂 , before you raise your eye brow, no I don’t love shopping for shoes or clothes ( I do out of necessity)…..I love grocery shopping. God bless the inventors of supermarkets, Shoprite,  Spar/Park n Shop etc. When I get into one of the latter super stores I simply get lost as the wheels in my head start rolling. The attractive packed goods, the fresh produce, herbs, spices, dairy…the list goes on. Many times when I walk into a store, I literally start combining recipes in my head, admittedly sometimes I pick up items I like and then research later what I can do with them….yeah that bad… lol!

Todays pasta was one of such ingredients I picked simply because I liked how it looked. It comes in plain and spinach varieties both made from durum wheat semolina just like its cousin spaghetti and equally tastes great with tomato sauce. It’s wider though and fills the mouth with every bite, filling your mouth with more flavours…enough already!

Let’s get into this simple recipe.

Ingredients : ( serves 4 )

Meatballs

0.2 kg lamb mince meat (1/2 pack)- Shoprite

0.2 kg pork mince meat (1/2 pack) -Shoprite

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

Small bunch fresh parsley ( 5 stalks) -Shoprite

Small bunch fresh basil ( also called curry leaves in local markets)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 small garlic cloves

1 fresh pepper

1/4 teaspoon dry Cameroon pepper

1 Maggi crayfish cube

Salt to taste

Sauce

1 portion homemade tomato puree

2 cooking spoons vegetable oil

1 Maggi cube

Handful fresh basil/curry leaves

Salt to taste

Pasta

6 Tagliatelle pasta rolls

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Method:

Blend the garlic and fresh pepper with as little water as possible.

In a bowl combine the minced meats and all the other ingredients including the pepper/garlic blend, with a wooden spoon combine well.

Wash and thinly slice the basil and parsley leaves, add into the meat and mix well.

Wet your hands and roll into meatballs with your palm, gives about 24 meatballs.

Grease your baking tray or pan and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown at 350ºC/Gas 4 depending on how your oven is configured.

While meatballs are baking, heat vegetable oil and fry the homemade tomato puree with the pot covered.

Wash and slice basil leaves for sauce, set aside.

Once meatballs are done, take out of the oven and allow them cool.

Pour enough water to cover the pasta in a pot and bring to boil. Add the oil and a pinch of salt to the water before adding the pasta, boil for 5 -10 minutes depending on how soft you want it.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and run under cold water immediately to stop it from getting soft and sticky.

Once the tomato starts sticking to the bottom of the pot, about 15 – 20 minutes, add the meatballs, Maggi cube and stir well. Let the meatballs absorb the sauce for about 10 minutes.

The tomato sauce should be very thick by now, add basil leaves, stir properly, taste for salt, turn off heat.

Need I tell you to enjoy? 🙂 .

Garnish with parsley

Ok, Enjoy!

Azu 🙂 .

*Points to note: I used 2 different minced meat for added flavours but you can use what’s available to you. The meatballs can also be deep fried until golden brown instead of baked but baking them is healthier,  no added fats from frying.