Jamie Magazine
By Jamie Oliver
Sicilian Meatballs Al Forno
Oven-baked lamb meatballs in arrabbiata sauce
1 hr 10 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 6
About the recipe
Making meatballs from scratch is a great way of using under-loved, cheap cuts of meat, plus you know exactly what’s gone into them. I’ve kept the pasta simple to let those Sicilian flavours really sing.
Recipe From
Ingredients
50g raisins
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
500g lamb neck fillet and/or offcuts
50g sun-dried tomatoes
½ a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
100g fresh breadcrumbs
50g pine nuts
1 lemon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
50g Parmesan cheese
olive oil
120g buffalo mozzarella
500g dried spaghetti
extra virgin olive oil
ARRABBIATA SAUCE
1 small red onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 quality anchovy fillets
1 fresh red chilli
1 small dried chilli
2 x 400g tins of quality plum tomatoes
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
red wine vinegar
optional: 1 teaspoon sugar
½ a bunch of fresh basil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.
- Soak the raisins in the balsamic vinegar for 5 minutes.
- Mince the lamb in a food processor, then place into a large bowl. Roughly chop and add the sun-dried tomatoes, then pick, finely chop and add most of the parsley leaves.
- Add the breadcrumbs, pine nuts, lemon zest, soaked raisins and their juice, and oregano. Finely grate in half the Parmesan. Season, then mix together well.
- With wet hands, roll and pat the mixture into 24 meatballs (the size of golf balls).
- Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan over a high heat, then fry the meatballs for about 5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Set aside.
- For the arrabbiata sauce, peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Chop the anchovies, then deseed and finely chop the fresh chilli.
- Heat a good lug of olive oil in a pan on a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, anchovies and chopped chilli. Crumble in the dried chilli, and gently fry for a few minutes, until soft.
- Add the plum tomatoes and cinnamon, breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon, then simmer for about 20 minutes, or until reduced, stirring every so often.
- Pour in a splash of red wine vinegar, season well, add the sugar if you think it tastes too sharp, and tear in most of the basil leaves.
- Spoon the sauce into an ovenproof dish (25cm x 30cm), then dot the meatballs on top. Tear over the mozzarella, sprinkle over the remaining basil leaves and finely grate the rest of the Parmesan on top.
- Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.
- Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions, then drain and toss with some extra virgin olive oil and the rest of the parsley. Serve the meatballs with the pasta – perfect with a nice crisp salad.
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