Meatballs is definitely up there as one of my favourite dishes and I think most people would agree with me.

With this recipe I make the sauce from scratch too but trust me, it’s the simplest of sauces and the taste difference is well worth the extra minute it will take

First make the meatballs by mixing together a 500g pack of mince meat with (roughly) 2 teaspoons of dried basil, 2 teaspoons of dried parsley and 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Make up into meatballs, this mixture should make approximately 25 meatballs

Next fry the meatballs on a medium to high heat until browned all over then remove from the pan and set aside whilst you make the sauce.

In a food processor blitz 6 ripe tomatoes with 1-2 cloves of garlic, half an onion and a handful of basil leaves (if you don’t have any fresh, just use a large heaped teaspoon of dried basil but you can mix that in after you’ve blended the ingredients) and that’s the sauce prepped

Once blitzed pour out in to the frying pan that you used to cook the meatballs and add a dollop of tomato puree and another 2 teaspoons of grated parmesan, mix and bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes, next add the meatballs, mix them in the sauce and cook for a further 10 minutes whilst you cook some pasta.

Serve with a large glass of wine and some crusty bread to mop up all the lovely sauce