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Meatballs with sauce are a perfect dish for Sunday lunch or when you have guests. In fact, with a single recipe and a single preparation you can get a first course, because you can combine them with pasta or simply a second course with some slices of fresh bread. This is one of those dishes where using a piece of bread to mop up the last of the sauce on your plate (fare la scarpetta, in Italian) is a must!

INGREDIENTS for about 3 serving:

• 500 g beef mince
• 2 eggs
• 80 g breadcrumbs
• 60 g parmesan
• Parsley to taste
• Salt to taste
• Few leaf of basil to taste
• 500 ml tomato sauce
• 2 small red onions
• Oil to taste
• Salt to taste
• 280 g pasta (spaghetti, rigatoni, penne, trofie)

The type of pasta you prefer, I used trofie pasta.

METHOD:

1. In a large bowl, combine beef with bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, egg and salt. Mix until just combined then turn the mixture into balls of the size you prefer.

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1. Add oil and onion in a pot and cook until soft over medium heat. Add tomato sauce and water. Season with salt and basil, bring to a simmer. Put the meatballs in the pot, cover with a lid and cook over low heat for about an hour.
2. Once the meatballs are ready, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to package instructions but stop cooking it few minutes before. Leave a ladle full of pasta cooking water aside and drain the pasta.
3. Put the pasta back in the pot, add its cooking water and the meatballs sauce, stir until water disappear and you have a nice mixture.
4. Serve it with one more generous ladle of sauce and the meatballs.

BUON APPETITO!