Prawns and

Orecchiette with West Coast mussels in a lemon-garlic cream sauce

25 minutes

Tart recipes

Oven-poached whole chicken and vegetables with celery lemon salsa

1 hour

Chickpea recipes

Lamb, chickpea and butternut stew

1 1/2 hours

Cake recipes

Banana-and-hazelnut polenta cake with espresso drizzle

1 hour

Citrus recipes

Eclairs with lemon custard and caramelised white chocolate

1 hour 20 minutes

Soup recipes

Snoek sandwich with spicy cabbage relish

15 minutes

Whole-wheat and pumpkin salad with gremolata dressing

1 hour, 30 minutes

Spaghetti with meatballs

By Abigail Donnelly

Serves 6

Difficulty Easy

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cooking Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

4 slices white bread
250 ml milk
1 onion, grated
4 garlic cloves, chopped
100 g pine nuts, chopped
500 g beef mince
200 g pork mince
60 g Italian parsley
10 g thyme, chopped
60 g Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
1 t lemon zest
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Italian fresh tomato sauce

12 ripe tomatoes, cut in half lengthways
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 leeks, chopped
65 ml olive oil
2 T fresh thyme
1 x 400 g canned, chopped tomatoes
2 t tomato puree
125 ml white wine
1 T brown sugar
2 T fresh basil, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Soak the bread in the milk and drain off any extra liquid. Mix together with all the ingredients and season to taste.

Roll into medium sized balls and place on a tray or dish. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and cook over a medium heat until brown on both sides. Rather cook off in batches so that the pan is not to full.

If you are adding them to a sauce then don’t overcook them as they will cook again in the sauce which should be on a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.

To make the sauce: Preheat oven to 180C and place tomatoes and leeks on a baking tray with the garlic and thyme, drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes until soft then place in a saucepan together with remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

Season to taste.

Cook's tip: Try not buy extra lean mince for this one as you need a bit of extra fat for the juiciness.They are great stuffed into a warmed pita pocket with salad and hummus or served with creamy mashed potatoes and a thick onion gravy.

The meatballs are always best made the day before so that the flavours can develop better, but don’t that let you dissuade you from making them just before serving - they will still be delicious.

TASTE's take

Abigail created this recipe for mini meatballs, called polpette in Italian, in celebration of the movie Big Night, starring Stanely Tucci and featuring the extravagent Italian dish, Timpano. Read more about it here.

Chocolate fondants with kirsch-soaked cherries

Self-saucing stuffing pie

Sufganiyot/Doughnuts

Orecchiette with West Coast mussels in a lemon-garlic cream sauce

Lemon-and-ginger treacle tart

Oven-poached whole chicken and vegetables with celery lemon salsa

Lamb, chickpea and butternut stew

Banana-and-hazelnut polenta cake with espresso drizzle

Lemon-and-lime souffle

Eclairs with lemon custard and caramelised white chocolate

Cavolo nero soup

Beer battered onion rings

Snoek sandwich with spicy cabbage relish

Whole-wheat and pumpkin salad with gremolata dressing