Italian tuna balls

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Good Food

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Recipe by Good Food

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1. Flake the tuna into a bowl, then tip in the pine nuts, lemon zest, parsley, breadcrumbs and egg. Season and mix together with your hands until completely combined. Roll the mix into 12 walnut-size balls. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil, then cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions.
2. Heat a little of the tuna oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then fry the tuna balls for 5 mins, turning every minute or so until completely golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Heat the tomato sauce, then toss together with the pasta and tuna balls.

Make it into burgers

Tex-Mex burgers: Tip the drained tuna, breadcrumbs and egg into a bowl with a handful sweetcorn kernels, a sprinkling Tex-Mex or fajita seasoning and a small handful chopped coriander. Mould the mix into 4 burgers, cook as above and serve in buns with your favourite burger toppings.

Per serving

594 kcalories, protein 35g, carbohydrate 92g, fat 12 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 4g, salt 1.42 g

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Results 1-20

• Simlau

  31 October 2007

  Simlau rated this recipe

  

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• lyndsey

  06 November 2007

  lyndsey rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Very quick to prepare and so light tasting - a real alternative to traditional beef meatballs. I made this for the family, and everyone asked where i had got the recipe from!

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• angela

  04 December 2007

  angela rated and commented on this recipe

  

  very nice

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• Dee Russell

  19 January 2008

  Dee Russell rated and commented on this recipe

  

  For even the children to sit and eat with no fuss this was a real winner! We omitted the parsley as they both hate it but had loads of basil in our sauce.

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• Maria

  03 February 2008

  Maria rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Made this several times and its one of my favorites. Love it the taste of tuna and lemon.

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• Sandra

  25 February 2008

  Sandra commented on this recipe

  We have made this several times, and it is a great hit, even with my 11 year old daughter who says she doesn't like tuna!!!

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• psyren

  05 March 2008

  psyren commented on this recipe

  It was nice altho it wasnt quite to my taste. I think I would add more seasoning.

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• Victoria

  18 April 2008

  Victoria commented on this recipe

  Very nice, but next time I will do double the amount to serve four.

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• Albertine

  28 April 2008

  Albertine rated this recipe

  

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• .:sarah:.

  14 May 2008

  .:sarah:. rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Was nicer 2nd time with some adjustments! Did have to make more to serve 4 (2 adults, 2 teenagers) so i used 3 tins of tuna instead of 2 i also added 1 clove of chopped garlic, 1 small finely chopped onion and substituted the parsley for chives (1 daughter hates parsley) also added a sneaky pinch of chilli powder and they tasted great!

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• Kate

  21 May 2008

  Kate commented on this recipe

  This was very nice and really easy to make. I have been looking for a meat free - meat ball recipe and this one is perfect! Thanks!

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• Helen

  27 May 2008

  Helen commented on this recipe

  This was a great receipe, would definately make it again. It was the first time my 4 year old would eat tuna (I told her they were meatballs and she happily scoffed the lot!)

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• Lush_Loni

  30 July 2008

  Lush_Loni rated and commented on this recipe

  

  I found this quite tricky to make, my tuna balls fell apart a bit, not sure where I went wrong. I was embarassed presenting my boyfriend with it..... I would attempt to make them again but I was disappointed at first try.

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• leannebookless

  17 September 2008

  leannebookless rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Tuna made a great eqivalent to pork or beef! Also used whole wheat pasta and burgen breadcrumbs to cut the cals.

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• di

  18 September 2008

  di rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Yes the meatballs are a bit fiddly to cook but the result is well worth it, I didn't use parsley as I made a tomato and basil sauce to go with it but they were very tasty and enjoyed by all. I would agree however that there is no way that this would feed 4, it just fed 2 adults and two little ones!

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• Vivienne

  01 October 2008

  Vivienne commented on this recipe

  i made them and put them in the fridge for an hour prior to cooking and had no problems with them falling apart.

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• Frantic Flapjack

  06 October 2008

  Frantic Flapjack rated and commented on this recipe

  

  I added some more breadcrumbs to the mixture which seemed to work well binding it all together. The first batch fell apart a bit but the second batch were fine. All in all, a tasty, filling dinner.

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• Paul Cresswell

  09 October 2008

  Paul Cresswell rated this recipe

  

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• Dee

  12 October 2008

  Dee commented on this recipe

  This was a tasty meal, and was easy to make. We used Asda spicy tomato pasta sauce for the sauce and "mmm", was really good. Our little girl ate some of it too, which was good as she is fussy!

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• queenemsie

  08 November 2008

  queenemsie rated this recipe

  

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Ingredients

• 2 160g cans of tuna in sunflower or olive oil, drained (reserve a little oil)
• small handful of pine nuts
• freshly grated zest 1 lemon
• small handful parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 egg , beaten
• 400g spaghetti
• 500g jar pasta sauce

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Difficulty and servings

Serves 4

Preperation and cooking times

Prep 15 mins

Ingredients

• 2 160g cans of tuna in sunflower or olive oil, drained (reserve a little oil)
• small handful of pine nuts
• freshly grated zest 1 lemon
• small handful parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 egg , beaten
• 400g spaghetti
• 500g jar pasta sauce

Per serving

594 kcalories, protein 35g, carbohydrate 92g, fat 12 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 4g, salt 1.42 g

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