Pasta dishes always sound far better, and rather more enticing, when described in Italian. This clearly has something to do with the word ‘pasta’ being virtually synonymous with its country of origin. However, let us not kid ourselves; describing a dish in another language, especially a rather romantic one, does give one a sense of expertise and an air of authority. Having said that, I jolly well hope that my Italian is, at least on this occasion, correct.
I had previously posted a recipe for meatballs, but after tasting these I had to replace the original recipe as this dish was incredible. These meatballs were astoundingly succulent, light and delicious – the perfect accompaniment to the tomato sauce I posted yesterday. Alas, they are not entirely my own invention as the recipe is an adaptation of a Jamie Oliver recipe, taken from his first book The Naked Chef. Jamie’s method of cooking his meatballs appealed to me, by doing them in the oven surrounded by sauce there is absolutely no way they are going to dry out.