M is for Meatballs

Called albóndigas in Spanish, these little meatballs are light because of the cracker crumbs and work well if the pepper and spring onions still have some crunch to add texture.

Gather

• 1½ lbs lean minced beef
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup of salted cracker crumbs (Jacobs are good)
• 1 teaspn mustard powder
• 1 tblspn ground cumin
• S&P
• 4-5 spring onions (scallions), cut on the diagonal into 5 mm slices
• ½ green and ½ orange/yellow pepper, deseeded and diced
• 1 beef tomato, deseeded and the flesh diced (known among chefs as concassé)
• 2 cups of v8 juice (passata will work if you don't have v8, mixing in ½ cup red wine to thin it a little)

Then...

1. Preheat the oven to 165°C for fan ovens (180°C if not)
2. In a large (clean) plastic bag, put in the mince, mustard powder, cumin and season well
3. Mix together the eggs, milk and cracker crumbs in a jug and pour into the bag of mince mix.
4. Twist the top of the bag closed and squish the ingredients together through the plastic
5. Scatter half the pepper, tomato and spring onion onto the bottom of a broad ovenproof dish
6. Scoop out heaped tablespoons of the mix and roll into balls a bit bigger than a walnut
7. Place the balls in one layer on the veggies in the dish
8. Sprinkle over the rest of the veggies and pour the juice/liquid over evenly
9. Put into the oven for 30 minutes turning the meatballs over after 15 minutes
10. Stir the sauce and meatballs together (gently so as not to break up the meatballs) and season to taste

Not the best picture, but it was the only one I manage to take...