A great weeknight meal! All vegetables, meatballs and herbs are thrown into one pot in the oven, then served over tasty noodles. Vegetables are chopped small and mixed with the meatballs so choosy kid would be none the wiser. We suggest spaghetti, linguini or zite—a long, hollow noodle that your kids will love. This recipe is for six dinner sized portions, or count on leftovers for the next day.

Category: main course or dinner
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large yellow onion, minced
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 large stalks of celery, diced
• 18 Pete’s Housemade beef meatballs (available at The British Butcher)
• 10 large white mushroom, sliced and diced
• 4 Roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled and diced
• 2 cans crushed tomato in puree, or just puree (796 ml)
• 5 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp dry thyme
• 2 tbsp dry oregano

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• 1 cup grated Pecorino cheese + a handful for garnish
• 2 cups grated Parmigiano + a handful for garnish
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped

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• 500g dry pasta noodle, like zite, spaghetti or linguini, cooked as directed

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large deep casserole or Dutch oven begin layering ingredients, starting with onion, garlic and celery. Add the meatballs on top of the vegetables, then add mushrooms, tomatoes, canned tomato, tomato paste, thyme, and oregano.

Place in the oven to cook for 35 minutes uncovered. 

Remove from oven, add cheeses, salt and parsley and stir in with a wooden spoon, turning up from the bottom, to not damage the meatballs. Add more salt if needed to taste.

Serve immediately over cooked noodles and garnish with extra Parmigiano and Pecorino. 

Recipe created by Jess Emin