I used to love meatballs as a child, but the ones I really liked were not lovingly home made, but came out of a tin. God only knows what "meat" was in them but for someone who ate home cooked food all the time, junk food was a novelty. No idea why I liked them, I just did. So this recipe is a revisit of fond food memories and definitely home made, not out of a tin.

300g beef mince (rump or brisket) or 200g rump and 100g pork shoulder
2 shallots finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
75g parmesan grated
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon tomato purée
75g breadcrumbs
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
10ml oil for frying

Fry off the shallots and garlic in oil until soft and leave to one side to cool
Place the mince, garlic, onion, mustard, parmesan, breadcrumbs in a bowl and mix together until well combined
Add the egg and mix until it all starts to bind together
Form into balls and place in the fridge to allow them to set for an hour or so
Quickly fry the meatballs in oil on a medium heat until browned on all sides
Place in the oven for 35 mins at 160c (fan), 170c (normal)
If cooking on the BBQ, then set your BBQ up for indirect cooking at 160c, place the browned meat balls into a cast iron cooking dish and cook for 35 mins

Tomato sauce
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100ml passata
100ml red wine
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
50ml extra virgin olive oil
5g sugar
10g oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
15g tomato purée

Fry off the garlic in the olive oil for 5 mins on a lowish heat
Add the tomatoes, passata, red wine and purée and stir well until the sauce comes together
Turn the heat up high and cook for 2 minutes to take the raw flavour out of the purée and the wine
Add the oregano and stir through, lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes
Season with the salt pepper and sugar

Serve the meatballs in the sauce with some crusty bread on the side