Moz­zarel­la-Stuffed Meatballs

(serves 4)

750 grams (1 1/2 lbs) mixed mince: pork, lamb and beef (or any one alone)
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup home­made breadcrumbs
hand­ful chopped basil
1/2 tsp Ital­ian seasoning
1 large, per­haps 1 1/2 buf­fa­lo moz­zarel­la balls (you must judge by the size of yours)
2 tbsps olive oil
5 cloves gar­lic, minced
3 soup-size cans peeled plum toma­toes, whizzed in a food proces­sor till smooth
salt and pep­per to taste

Mix mince, eggs, bread­crumbs, basil and Ital­ian sea­son­ing togeth­er VERY well. Knead it like a dough, and you will be able to see when it’s tru­ly mixed, as it forms a love­ly dough-like con­sis­ten­cy, com­plete­ly amal­ga­mat­ed and coher­ent. Form into small hand­fuls about 1 1/2 inch across, then pinch off an inch or so of moz­zarel­la and push it into the small hand­ful of meat. Then form the meat­ball around the cheese, seal­ing it as best you can. Some cheese may ooze out dur­ing cook­ing, but don’t wor­ry. It’s deli­cious anyway.

Make all your meat­balls and set aside. Then cook the gar­lic in a large, shal­low, heavy saucepan, slight­ly in the olive oil, add the toma­toes and cook on a low heat for a bit, per­haps five min­utes. Then low­er the meat­balls in a sin­gle lay­er into the sauce and cov­er the pot. The meat­balls will poach in about 20 min­utes, but you can turn it off after that and let sit while you do oth­er things, just warm­ing it all slight­ly before you want to eat. Love­ly with or with­out spaghet­ti, and cheese on top.