There’s nothing more satisfying than a big plate of meatballs! I’ve always loved them ever since watching Lady and the Tramp share a romantic plateful. Equally it can be a bit of a faff to make and I’m all for the easy life, so I’ve come up with this version which is so so quick to prepare, but tastes so good every time! The key to this is that the sauce doesn’t involve any chopping or standing over the cooker, it’s just blended and then left to simmer. It’s also a real lesson in how sometimes going back to real basics produces some of the best tasting food. This only has 3 ingredients in the sauce (if I’m doing it for the kids I leave the chilli out), but it tastes amazing. I think one of the reasons for this is that you whizz the garlic raw into the tomatoes rather than pre-frying it, so that flavour just spreads sweetly throughout all of the sauce.

I have kept the meatballs here as basic as they get, as the sauce has so much flavour that you really don’t need to mess fiddle around making fancy meatballs!

You can use any type of mince, pork, beef (or a mix), or turkey. Equally I keep meaning to try this with veggie balls make from either courgette or aubergine- watch this space!

I like to serve with a mix of courgetti and spaghetti to get some extra veg in.

Fresh herbs blended in the with sauce also work beautifully.