Italian food is one of my favourite cuisines.  Their flare of producing beautiful food out of the shortest list of ingredients fills me with admiration for there cooking skills and the simplicity of the food.

I’ve bee lucky enough to visit Italy a few times now and every time I over dose in amazing meals.  Boy, does my waistline feel it too! =) Suffering from holiday foods and grieving for that fabulous food is always helped by trying to whip up some of the food from those far away places.

One of the Italian inspired dishes that I have enjoyed cooking is meatballs in a tomato sauce.  Of course I put my own twist on it by adding a kick with some chilli heat.  Rather than buying a sauce from the shops I made that from scratch too, I’m definitely on a home cooking kick!

Ingredients

Meatballs:

400g of turkey mince

1 clove of garlic

1 chilli

2 tsps. of Italian seasoning

Tomato sauce:

400g of tinned tomatoes

1 cloves of garlic

1 onion

2 tbsps. tomato puree

2 tbsps. balsamic vinegar

Handfuls of spinach

Take the mince and add 1 grated garlic clove, the Italian herbs and one chopped chilli (deseeded).  Combine the mixture together until all of ingredients are well distributed. Take small handfuls of the mixture and roll in to small balls.  Place the meat balls on an oven proof dish and bake in the oven for approx. 25 minutes at 180 degrees.

Meanwhile, dice the onion fry in some oil until soft.  In a blender pour in the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, balsamic vinegar and the cooked onions, blitz until smooth.  Pour the sauce into a saucepan and let it simmer for at least 20 minutes on a low heat.

Once the sauce has reduced add the spinach and pour over the meatballs.  Cook in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

These were great with raw courgette noodles or alternatively you can have them with pasta, steamed veggies or even in a Sloppy Joe. Check out my Tofu Meatballs for a vegetarian option.

What meals have you tried to re-create after coming back from a holiday?

What is you favourite food cuisine?