Spaghetti with Meatballs

Remove the skins from the sausages and lightly mix with the mince in a bowl with a fork. Finely chop the rosemary to deliver a tablespoon or two, chop the oregano and add to the meat mixture.

Separate out the egg yolks and put in a bowl, add the tomato puree, 4½ teaspoonfuls of salt and a good measure of fresh black pepper. Pour over the meat mixture and lighly mix in with a fork. If you have time, cover and put in the fridge for half an hour or so.

Make some seasoned flour with a few pinces of salt and pepper. Use a tablespoon to extract a portion of the meat and use your hands to lightly roll into a meatball about 1½ inches/4 cms in diameter. Roll the meatball in the flour. Repeat about 30 times  Picture  .

Peel and finely chop the onions. Put in a large pan and soften over a low heat for a good ten minutes or so stirring from time to time and making sure not to brown.

Meanwhile de-seed the chillies, peel the garlic cloves and chop both finely. Add to the onions and continue to soften for five minutes or so.

Meanwhile peel the tomatoes after dropping in boiling water for twenty seconds or so. Squeeze out most of the pips with your fingers and put in a sieve over a bowl to capture most of the juice. Roughly chop the tomatoes, add to the bowl and pour any juice off the chopping board into the bowl. Use a spoon to crush the pips etc in the sieve and add the resulting juice to the bowl.

Pour the tomatoes and juice over the tomatoes, and mash down a bit with a wooden spoon. Put over the heat until just simmering, drop the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes stirring from time to time. Then season to taste with salt and pepper  Picture  .

Meanwhile lightly brown the meatballs in a little oil and drain over kitchen paper  Picture  . When the tomato sauce is ready, add the meatballs to the sauce and barely simmer covered for twenty minutes or so. Chop some organo and sprinkle over the mixture  Picture  .

Cook some spaghetti, drain and stir in a little olive oil if you like, pour over some meatballs and some flakes of parmesan and serve immediately  Zoom  .