Spanish Meatball Bake with Smoked Paprika and Parmesan

Serves: 6 / Prep time: 25 minutes / Cook time: 35 minutes

Spanish meatballs Photo: Gretchen Lowe

This would have to be my most popular recipe yet. It's super simple and made tender by soaking breadcrumbs in milk and finishing by baking in the oven. We serve them a number of ways:

• On Greek yoghurt or topped with buffalo mozzarella and mopped up with sourdough
• For a picnic - In sliders with pickles and hot English mustard
• ​On pasta with loads of extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients

Tomato and Red Pepper Sauce

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 3 cans tomatoes (I love cherry tomatoes for their sweetness)
• 400g jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• Salt and pepper

Meatballs

• 1 cup breadcrumbs or 3 slices of bread blitzed in a food processor (I use stale sourdough)
• ⅓ cup milk
• 1 kg mince (I use half beef and half pork)
• 1 small onion, chopped finely
• ½ cup Parmesan, finely grated (plus extra for baking as below)
• ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 ½ tbsp smoked paprika
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil, for frying
• To bake
• 1 cup parmesan

Method

Begin by making the tomato sauce - heat olive oil in a frypan on a medium-low heat. Add garlic oregano and smoked paprika and cook for a minute or so being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add tomatoes and peppers and season generously. Bring to a simmer then cook (stirring occasionally) until sauce is thick and tomatoes have mostly fallen apart, about 25 minutes.

Heat oven to 200C

For the meatballs pour milk over bread and let stand until liquid is almost absorbed - a few minutes will do.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and form meat into approx 25 golfball meatballs. They’re great to make ahead.

Add olive oil to a frypan over a medium-high heat. When oil is hot, fry meatballs in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, 5-8 minutes per batch. Transfer fried meatballs to a
paper towel-lined plate.

Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of a rectangular casserole dish. Sprinkle a third of the parmesan over the sauce. Scatter half the meatballs over the parmesan. Top with half of the
remaining sauce, sprinkle with another third of the parmesan, and repeat layering, ending with a final layer of sauce and parmesan.

Bake for about 35 minutes until golden and bubbling.