Heart Shaped Meatballs are a cute and delicious way to turn a simple pasta dish into a romantic meal for two. They are easy to make by hand and look lovely. This easy Valentine's Day pasta is quick to make leaving you with more time to spend looking lovingly into each others eyes.
1onion(chopped up with the chopper so it’s nice and fine)
2garlic cloves(chopped up too)
Fresh chilli(to taste)
1tablespoontomato puree
1tinchopped tomatoes(approximately 400g)
salt and pepper
1handfulfresh basil
Instructions
Meatballs
In a large mixing bowl pull apart the mince.
Chop up the onion as fine as you can and add it to the beef.
In a blender make the breadcrumbs and add them to the mix with the herbs, salt and pepper.
Add the eggs and mix together and to form one big meatball. You’ll probably need to use your hands.
Divide into mix and roll in your hands to create the meatballs. I make them about two heaped tablespoon of mix each so they don’t take ages to cook and then defrost later.
To make the hearts I rolled the mix into a ball. Then squashed it flat a bit. I then cut into the meatball just shy of half way down. I then finished shaping the heart.
In a frying pan with a little oil on a medium heat and cook the meatballs a few at a time until they cooked through.
Tomato Pasta Sauce
Soften the onions, chilli and garlic in a pan with a little oil on a low/medium heat. Keep stirring.
Add the tomato purée and mix in.
Add the tins of tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, along with a handful of lightly chopped basil leaves too.
Bring to a simmer.
Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack.
Normally I would put the meatballs into the sauce but as they are so cute and I wanted to show them off so I presented them on top so they were kept warm in another frying pan until the sauce and pasta was ready.
Notes
Make the meatballs ahead and freeze them before cooking.To defrost I remove them from the freezer container and put them in a bowl and cover it and leave it out for the day in a cool place. If I forget to take them out earlier enough I use the microwave defrost setting.