Chilli beef meatballs in tomato, white wine and romero pepper sauce
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 250g/9oz beef mince
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
- ½³Ù²õ±è chilli powder
- flour, for dredging
For the sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 romero pepper, seeds removed, chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 150ml/¼ pint white wine
For the rice
- 200g/7oz basmati rice, washed
- handful chopped fresh parsley
- handful chopped fresh dill
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Method
For the meatballs, mix together the beef mince, garlic, onion, egg and chilli powder in a bowl.
With wet hands, shape the mixture into 4-5 golfball-sized balls and dredge in flour.
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sweat the onion until soft but not coloured.
Add the garlic and the romero pepper and fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Cook to reduce the volume of wine by half.
Add the meatballs, cover and cook for 15 minutes, turning the meatballs occasionally in the sauce, until cooked through.
For the rice, place the rice in a saucepan and cover with 2½cm/1in cold water. Bring slowly up to the boil.
Once the rice is boiling, stir once, turn the heat to very low and cover with a tight fitting lid for 10 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the rice cooked through.
When the rice is cooked, stir through the herbs and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Rub the oil over the inside of a small Pyrex bowl. Press the rice into the bowl, then tip out onto a serving plate.
To serve, arrange the meatballs around the rice and pour over the sauce.