Baked Lean Beef Meatballs With Tomato Sauce And Linguine

Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 200°C (fan)/ gas 7

Add your lean beef mince, panko breadcrumbs and a generous pinch of salt and pepper to a bowl

Mix thoroughly until fully combined (clean hands is the best way!), divide and roll into 3 meatballs per person

Boil half a kettle

Peel and finely grate your red onion[s]

Sit the lean beef meatballs over the grated red onion in an oven-proof dish with a drizzle of olive oil

Put the dish in the oven for 5-6 min or until the onion has started to soften

While the onion is softening, dissolve your beef stock mix, tomato paste and a pinch of sugar in 150ml [200ml] [250ml] boiled water

Add your dried oregano, balsamic vinegar and chopped tomatoes then give everything a good mix up – this is your tomato sauce

Once the onion has softened, add the tomato sauce to the dish and cook for 25-30 min or until the meatballs are cooked through (no pink meat!) and the sauce has thickened to a ragù-like consistency

Meanwhile, reboil a kettle

Once the meatballs have been cooking for 10-15 min, add your linguine to a pot of boiled water with a large pinch of salt and bring to the boil over a high heat

Cook the linguine for 7-9 min or until cooked with a slight bite

Once done, drain the linguine

Wash your spinach, then pat it dry with kitchen paper

Once the meatballs are cooked, remove the dish from the oven and top with the spinach

Return the dish to the oven and cook for 1-2 min further or until the spinach has started to wilt

Mix it all together – these are your baked lean beef meatballs with tomato sauce