Meatballs and mushrooms

Doug Sherring

Our favourite home-cooked meal was something Nick Honeyman made on our last night in Italy. Using delicious Italian pork sausage he took the meat from the casing and made meatballs which he cooked in a velvety tomato sauce. We added some sauteed mushrooms to ours and fresh parsley. All you need to have with this is a fresh green salad and some crusty bread.

Ingredients

5	Italian sausages (Main)
1 jar	Passata, approx 670g (Main)
2 Tbsp	Balsamic creme
2 cups	Mixed mushrooms (Main)
1 Tbsp	Olive oil
2 cloves	Garlic, finely diced
1 handful	Basil, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Cut the casing of the sausage, squeeze out the meat and roll into golf ball-sized balls.
2. Heat a large pan on a medium heat with the olive oil. Add the garlic and once softened and translucent add the meatballs and brown all over. Cook for about 8 minutes.
3. Add the passata and balsamic and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Heat another pan on high with some olive oil and fry the mushrooms until they are golden and caramelised. Season well with salt and pepper.
5. Lastly, stir the basil through the meatballs. Spoon into a serving dishand top with the fried mushrooms and another drizzle of the creme balsamic. Serve with a fresh crusty.

More Italian recipes from Kasey and Karena

• Mussel pasta
• Melon and parma ham salad