Smoky Team-Effort Meatballs

Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees and very finely chop your remaining onion. Add this to the beef mince with the mustard, oregano, cumin and 1 tbsp of finely chopped parsley. Add ¼ tsp of salt and very thoroughly mix the ingredients, then form into six meatballs. Stick your thumb into each, then fill with a bit of grated cheese before closing them up tight.

Place the meatballs on a baking tray and cook on the top shelf of the oven for 20 mins. Tip: They should be nicely browned off when you remove them from the oven.

Boil a pot of water with ¼ tsp of salt for the potatoes. Peel and chop the potatoes into roughly 3cm cubes. Boil them in the water for around 10 mins or until you can easily slip a knife through them. Drain and mash with 1 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of milk (if you have some) and a good pinch of salt.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the carrot into tiny cubes (½cm if your knife skills allow). Very finely chop the red chilli (remove the seeds if you don’t like it too hot). Remove the core from the yellow pepper and slice into thin matchsticks.

Take the lid off the onions (which should be nice and soft) and add the carrot and pepper, add the smoked paprika and as much chilli as you dare. Give it a stir and turn the heat to medium. Cook for around 8 mins to soften everything up.

Once all the veggies are soft, add in the tomato passata and 1/2 tsp of sugar (if you have some). Add ¼ tsp of salt and a few grinds of pepper (then taste and add more if needed). Bubble away for 5 mins on medium-low heat before adding in the cooked meatballs. Cook for a further 5 mins before gently stirring in 1 tbsp of finely chopped parsley.