Meatballs with a twist

What's the twist I hear you ask? Well stuffed inside the meatball is a little bit of goats cheese.  It might not sound all that appealing but trust me you have to try it! Its nice to bite into the meatball and discover some tasty goats cheese and because some of the flavour from the goats cheese seeps through the meat when you're cooking this, it makes the tomato sauce taste gorgeous too.  Here's what you need to serve two:

• 250g mince beef
• 1 onion
• goats cheese
• salt and pepper
• parsley
• basil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• sun dried tomato paste or tomato puree
• tomato ketchup
• Worcestershire sauce
• balsamic vinegar
• 500 ml beef stock

Its quite a long list of ingredients but it is worth it.  Here's what you do.  Firstly make your meatballs - to do that mix the mince with 1 teaspoon of parsley, 1 teaspoon of basil, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a squirt of ketchup (I'm allergic to eggs so i used this to bind the mixture together but actually it really adds to the flavour).  Season the mixture with salt and pepper then get your hands in the bowl and start squishing it all together...great!

Cut up some goats cheese into little squares and then take a little bit of the mince mixture and flatten it in your hand to form a circle shape.  In the middle of each circle, create a little dent and place some goats cheese in (see picture above).  Roughly fold all the meat in over the cheese and then roll between your hands to create a ball. 

Once you have made all your meatballs seal them in the pan so that they will stay together when you are cooking them later on in the tomato sauce.  Set them to one side for a bit.  To make your tomato sauce, chop 1 onion, add to the pan and soften for a few minutes along with half of the garlic.  Add your chopped tomatoes, a generous teaspoon of tomato paste, a squirt of tomato ketchup, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a dash of balsamic vinegar and stir.  The reason i say a dash of this and a squirt of that is because you cant really say specifically how much to put in, its all a matter of taste so keep tasting as you go along.  

To the sauce, add the remainder of the garlic, a teaspoon of parsley, a teaspoon of basil and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for a few minutes then add the beef stock.  Add the meatballs to the pan and leave to simmer for around 20-25 minutes until the sauce has reduced and the meatballs are cooked through.

Serve with some spaghetti and maybe some tasty garlic bread (although the meatballs are pretty filling on their own!)