Name: Cooking with kids: Spaghetti & meatballs with hidden veg sauce
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: Serves 6 (4 children, 2 adults)
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 300g good quality pork sausage (about 4 large or 8 chipolatas); 500g lean beef mince; 1 small onion coarsely grated; 1 carrot finely grated; 1 tbsp dried oregano; 50g parmesan finely grated, plus extra to serve; 1 medium egg; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 courgette coarsely grated; 3 garlic cloves finely grated; 1 tbsp tomato purée; pinch caster sugar; splash red wine vinegar; 2x tins chopped tomato; cooked spaghetti

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Cooking with kids: Spaghetti & meatballs with hidden veg sauce

Cooking with kids: Spaghetti & meatballs with hidden veg sauce

Barney Desmazery

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Serves 6 (4 children, 2 adults)

Easy

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 30 mins

A star rating of 4.9 out of 5.32 ratingsRate

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Teach children how to make this pasta supper - it's a tasty family meal packed with nutrients

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Family meals: Easy lamb tagine

A star rating of 4.1 out of 5.55 ratings

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

For the meatballs

300g good quality pork sausage

(about 4 large or 8 chipolatas)
500g lean beef mince
1 small onion

coarsely grated
1 carrot

finely grated
1 tbsp dried oregano
50g parmesan

finely grated, plus extra to serve
1 medium egg
1 tbsp olive oil

For the tomato sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
1 courgette

coarsely grated
3 garlic cloves

finely grated
1 tbsp tomato purée
pinch caster sugar
splash red wine vinegar
2x tins chopped tomato

To serve

cooked spaghetti

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Nutrition: per serving

kcal388
fat24.7g
saturates9.4g
carbs10.2g
sugars7.2g
fibre2.5g
protein31.3g
salt1.5g

low

Method

step 1

Children: Squeeze all the sausage meat out of the sausage skins into a large bowl and add the mince. Tip all the rest of the meatball ingredients, except the olive oil, into the bowl and season with black pepper then squish everything together through your hands until completely mixed. Keep an eye on younger children to make sure they don’t taste any of the raw mix.
step 2

Children: Roll the meatball mix into walnut-sized balls and place them on a plate – this is a job children as young as 2 can help with and a great job to help teach older children basic division.
step 3

Grown ups: While the children are rolling the meatballs make the sauce. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the courgette and garlic and cook for 5 mins until soft and mushy. Stir in the tomato puree, sugar and vinegar leave for 1 min then tip in the tomatoes and simmer for 5 mins. If your children like courgettes then you can leave the sauce chunky. But if, like mine, they hate courgettes then blitz the sauce with a hand blender – either way continue to simmer sauce gently while you cook the meatballs. If your child is confident with heat, from 7+ they can cook the sauce with supervision.
step 4

Grown ups: Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, working in batches, brown the meatballs on all sides then pop them into the sauce – continue to simmer the sauce for 15 mins, stirring very gently until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve with cooked spaghetti, extra grated Parmesan and a few torn basil leaves your child has picked and torn.

RECIPE TIPS

TIP FOR COOKING WITH KIDS

Before you start tie back any long hair, put on your aprons and wash your hands. Make sure your child is stable where they are cooking and comfortable with the angle they are cooking at. As you cook explain what the different ingredients are and where they come from.

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A star rating of 4.9 out of 5.32 ratings

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