Good meatball sauce?!

Going to Cali · 14 Sep 2011 at 21:46

I made meatballs this evening.....meatballs good, meatball sauce not so good.

My recipe was

1 large onion,
2 cloves garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1tbsp puree
1tbsp sugar
salt / pepper
cumin, chilli flakes and paprika

for meatballs
250g mince
1 egg
1/8 cheese
1/4 breadcrumbs
garlic powder, oregano, basil, salt and pepper.

Consistency wise the sauce was nice (blended smooth) but lacking somewhere. Anyone want to share their recipe?

Dave · 14 Sep 2011 at 22:41

Mine is nothing too special - passatta, finely diced onion, bacon (cut into small thin strips), couple of cloves of garlic, bit of salt. Cheese on top is a must!

Or, for Ikea-style - make up a white sauce then mix in some beef stock (made up with boiling water) and soy sauce. Cheats way (to avoid the inevitable lumps unless you are a good white sauce maker) is to use cream instead of the white sauce!

PapaLazaru · 14 Sep 2011 at 23:09

A dash of port, or a glug of red wine, works wonders. Let it cook out though.

EdwardTeach · 14 Sep 2011 at 23:18

What kind of meatballs? Italian meatballs?

Make the meatballs with mince, garlic, parsley and a bit of egg to bind. Dust them with flour.

Fry onion carrot and celery in a pan for ~5min. And the meatballs and cook until browner on all sides. Add passata and lower to a simmer. Cook for 30-40min. Season to taste.

FrenchTart · 14 Sep 2011 at 23:24

A *tablespoon* of sugar? 0_o

daz · 15 Sep 2011 at 01:57

A squeeze of ketchup is a must with something like this, alternatively (or even in addition), you could try a splash of worcester sauce or nam pla (fish sauce) for a similar flavour.

neoglow · 15 Sep 2011 at 02:02

The gravy/sauce that Ikea put on their meatballs in the cafe!
You can buy it instore. Yum!

hood1971 · 15 Sep 2011 at 09:29

I really enjoyed delia's meatball goulash recipe when it was a waitrose special - really moreish

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/...cipes/braised-meatballs-in-goulash-sauce.html

Putty · 15 Sep 2011 at 10:09

PapaLazaru said:
A dash of port, or a glug of red wine, works wonders. Let it cook out though.

What he said, bit of lime juice goes quite well also.

hlxbravo · 15 Sep 2011 at 10:24

My wife makes these, Porpetti (meatballs) as she is Italian, passed down recipe and all that and I love 'em. I can't remember the exact recipe, Hell why else did I get married if I needed to cook...lol, but yeah for the sauce, pretty much fried onions, garlic, passata (tinned toms will do but not so good) and a good splodge of puree to boot, season it up with salt and black pepper. Ours is normally bubbling away for about 3hrs.

monkeyspank · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:33

I like to keep the tomato sauce simple to let the flavour of the meatballs come through.

olive oil
garlic
tinned plum tomatoes, chopped
basil + seasoning

meatballs:
good quality pork+beef mine
egg
grated parmesan
dried oregano
crushed garlic
breadcrumbs