Serves: 5 Preparation time: 35m Cooking time: 25m Ready in: 60m

Ingredients

For the meatballs

200g. sausage (pork)

500g. minced beef

1 onion, finely chopped

1½ cup parsley, chopped

80g. Greek graviera cheese from Crete, grated

200g. fresh bread crumbs, ground in a blender

1 egg

salt, freshly ground pepper

For the tomato sauce

1 small cup of olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cans chopped tomatoes or 900g. fresh tomatoes, grated on grater

1 tsp. tablespoons tomato paste

75ml red wine

1 tsp. tablespoons sugar

1 cup chopped parsley

1 handful fresh basil leaves

Preparation method

step 1

Making the meatballs: Open the casing from sausage and remove the flesh into a large bowl.

step 2

Add the minced meat, onion, parsley, cheese, bread crumbs, egg and plenty of spice. Knead with your hands until you get a homogeneous mixture.

step 3

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees in the air. Shape the minced meat mixture into about 25 balls and bake in oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

step 4

Making the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the garlic for 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, sugar, parsley and spice. Simmer the sauce for 20 minutes or until thickened. Then add a few leaves of basil, add the already cooked meatballs and stir gently. Serve the meatballs with pasta of your choice sprinkled with Greek graviera cheese from Crete.

Instead of pasta you can use rice or fried or boiled  potatoes etc.

Source: Olive Magazine

Chef: Ioanna Stamoulou