Italian Meatballs & Pasta
These two recipes make traditional Italian meatballs made with lean minced beef, served with a tomato and garlic based pasta sauce with plenty of herbs, garlic and spice.
Italian Meatballs And Pasta
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 240g of uncooked spaghetti, (you could use whole-wheat)
For The Meatballs
- 500g of extra lean beef mince
- Splash of Worcestershire sauce
- Fresh chopped parsley
- 1 tsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 egg beaten, to bind
- Salt and black pepper
For The Sauce
- 500ml of passata
- 300ml of beef stock
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons of sweetener
- Balsamic vinegar
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 2 teaspoons of mixed herbs
- Salt and black pepper
- Low calorie spray
Method
Method
- Add all ingredients for the meatballs to a large bowl, and thoroughly bind together, form into equal sized meatballs.
- Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat, spray with low calorie spray and add the meatballs and fry until lightly browned all over then remove and set aside.
- Spray the pan with a little more low calorie spray and add the onion, garlic, celery and carrots and fry until softened.
- Add the mixed herbs, tomato paste, sweetener, splash of balsamic vinegar, stock and passata and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low, add the meatballs, cover and simmer until sauce reduces down and thickens, this takes approx 20 minutes.
- While sauce is simmering, add the spaghetti to a saucepan of boiling hot salted water and cook until al dente. Drain
- When the spaghetti is cooked, scoop out the meatballs and half of the sauce to a bowl. Then add the spaghetti to the remaining half and mix all together.
- Serve the spaghetti among 3 bowls and top with the meatballs and sauce and a little fresh chopped parsley.
- You could top with some grated parmesan but remember to add the extra calories!
Serves 3 – Nutrition Per Serving:
Calories 573, Fat 10g, Carbohydrate 75g, Fibre 11g, Sugar 11g, Protein 49g