Pork & Lamb Meatballs With Smokey Tomato Tagliatelle

Instructions

1. To make the tomato sauce - Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the onion and garlic until soft
2. Add the smoked tomato juice and all other tomato sauce ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for half an hour until all the flavours develop
3. To make the meatballs - Sauté the onions and garlic in a bit of oil on low-med heat until soft and translucent; set aside to cool
4. Mix lamb and pork mince with spices, coriander, breadcrumbs and the onion mixture but do not over-mix, or the meatballs may fall apart
5. Roll mixture into large-size meatballs, about 4cm in size
6. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, often turning, until they are nicely browned all over, don’t worry if they are not fully cooked on the inside. You want just to get a nice deep-coloured crust
7. Add the browned meatballs to the tomato sauce and continue to simmer the sauce for another 10 minutes to cook the meatballs fully and for all the flavours to develop into the sauce
8. Cook the tagliatelle according to the packet instructions with plenty of salt in the cooking water
9. Drain the pasta but reserve a suitable few cups of the cooking water
10. Put the drained pasta back in the same pan and add the tomato sauce and meatballs; mix carefully until all combined 
11. Taste the sauce and adjust salt, pepper and chilli flakes to your liking
12. Serve in bowls sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, some freshly ground black pepper and chilli flakes
13. If you don’t serve immediately and want to re-heat, then add some of the pasta cooking liquid to bring the sauce back to the right consistency