Summer baked meatballs with kale and juicy tomato sauce
Lunchbox friendly, batch and freeze
Ingredients
- Meatballs
- 1 kg grass fed organic beef mince (ground)
- 2 eggs
- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped (reserved half for tomato sauce)
- 1 large brown onion grated or finely chopped, can use food processor (reserve half for tomato sauce)
- 1 cup of kale leaves stripped and chopped finely
- 1 tspn ground cumin or seeds
- 1 tspn ground cinnamon
- ½ tbsp of dried or fresh dill
- Zest from 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup of sourdough bread chopped into small pieces
- Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tspn olive oil
- Basil for garnish
- Parmesan cheese to taste
- Tomato Sauce
- 1 tspn olive oil
- 1.5 cups of passata sauce
- 3/4 cup stock or broth
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 sprigs basil finely chopped
- 200 g spelt pasta ½ cauliflower (grated to make rice) or 3 medium zucchinis (spiralized)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- To make the meatballs, combine the mince, eggs, half the garlic and onion, kale, cumin, cinnamon, dill, lemon rind, bread, salt and pepper in a bowl. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes so the kale and breadcrumbs can absorb some of the moisture.
- Roll meatballs into balls and set on baking tray, brush with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top.
- To make the tomato sauce, saute the remaining onion in oil for 1-2 mins in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, stirring for a further minute. Add passata sauce, broth and apple cider vinegar, season well with salt and pepper. Let sauce simmer on low heat for 5 mins.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer on low heat for a further 5-10 mins. Turn off heat and mix through basil.
- Serve meatballs on a bed of spelt pasta, cauliflower rice or spiralized zucchini of your choice, drizzle tomato sauce on top, garnish with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.