Baked Spanish Meatballs and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

They tell you to never shop for groceries while hungry, and that applies doubly for people with allergies; you will see things that you want to eat but can’t. This recipe was inspired by a Marks & Spensor 'Gastropub' ready meal. For the non-allergy prone, you could run off and buy the plastic tray version, but I encourage you to try meatballs spiced my way at least once. It's fast and easy to prepare and the results are perfect for an autumn evening.

You can use either (low fat) beef or pork mince for the meatballs, or a mixture of both. You could also add some chopped chorizo, although we’re going to spice our meatballs chorizo style anyway so it’s not necessary and I didn’t use it in my recipe.

I decided to skip a little oil by steaming the meatballs in my Thermomix varoma tray and used the Thermomix’s internal basket to boil the potatoes at the same time (why make life any harder?), but boiling the spuds the old fashioned way, in a pot, and browning the meatballs in a frying pan before putting both in the oven to cook through works just as well, although I'd reduce the boiling time a smidgen since you'll need to bake the meatballs in the oven just a tiny bit longer to cook through and don't want mushy spuds. You can use any tomato based pasta sauce for this recipe. I found a great tomato and basil one at Marks & Spensor which had no nasties in it.

Note: if using frozen meat, pour a little white vinegar on them to help tenderize the meat while it defrosts. This results in softer meat. 

Ingredients:

• 400g beef or pork mince
• 1 clove garlic (or two smaller cloves. I like mine big and chubby!)
• Quarter teaspoon smoked paprika (mine is hot, otherwise I'd use more)
• Teaspoon oregano
• Salt and pepper, to season
• 1 egg 
• Gluten free breadcrumbs
• 1 jar tomato pasta sauce
• New potatoes, sliced in half or regular potatoes cut into chunks.

Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine mince, oregano, chopped garlic,paprika, salt and pepper and egg. Add enough breadcrumbs to make the mixture non-sticky. Form into meatballs and add to varoma tray. Mine filled the bottom tray and a little of the second tray too. Since they’re going in the oven after, it's ok if they’re a little undercooked.

Chop potatoes and add to the thermomix’s internal basket. Add 3 cups boiled water to the Thermomix, place the varoma tray on top, set to 15 minutes, varoma temperature, speed one. Switch on oven to 200c to warm. When the spuds are done and the meatballs steamed (or pan fried) drain and place into a large baking tray. Coat meatballs and potatoes with tomato sauce and leave it to bake for 15-20 minutes (a little longer if pan frying. Steaming cooks them all the way through better).

Serve into bowls and enjoy!