Shortcut sausage meatballs

Instead of making up a meatball mixture with minced meat or meats, parmesan, garlic and egg, I simply squeeze the stuffing out of about half a kilo of Italian sausages and roll it into cherry tomato-sized balls. This dish is perfect for cooking in advance and freezing. Leave to cool, then divide into portions and pour into containers. Place in the freezer and you will always have tasty meatballs on standby.

Shortcut sausage meatballs. © BBC

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 450 g (1 lb) Italian sausages
• 2 tbsp garlic oil
• 4 fat or 6 spindly spring onions (scallions)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 4 tbsp white wine or vermouth
• 2 x 400 g tins (28 oz) chopped tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions

Squeeze out the sausage meat from the sausages and roll small cherry tomato-sized meatballs out of it, putting them onto a plastic wrap-lined baking tray as you go. Your final tally should be around 40.

Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan or flameproof casserole and add the meatballs, frying them until golden-brown, as they become firmer, nudge them up in the pan to make room for the rest if you can’t fit them all in at first.

When all the meatballs are in the pan and browned, add the spring onion and oregano and stir about gently.

Add the wine (or vermouth) and chopped tomatoes, then fill half of one of the empty cans with cold water and tip it into the other empty can, then into the pan – the can-to-can technique is just my way of making sure you swill out as much of the tomato residue as possible.

Pop in the bay leaves and let the pan come to a fast simmer. Leave to cook like this, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly and the meatballs are cooked through. Check the sauce for seasoning, adding some salt and pepper if you like.

During this time you can cook whatever you fancy to go with the meatballs, whether it be pasta, rice, whatever.

Once the meatballs are ready, you can eat them immediately or let them stand, off the heat but still on the stove, for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken up a bit on standing. Should your diners be other than children who baulk at ‘green bits’, sprinkle with parsley to serve.

Note

• This dish will last in the freezer for 2 months.

See Nigella Lawson in Nigellissima. Find details and more recipes from the show here. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.