Chicken Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Let’s make it

1. The meatballs

2. Start by throwing all your ingredients into a large mixing bowl; the chicken mince, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley, chili, garlic, oregano and olive oil. Mix everything well, either with your hands or a machine, just make sure everything is well mixed together.
3. Season according to taste with salt and pepper, this can be adjusted later, so use rather less than more.
4. Make a test meatball, about the size of a cherry, and fry it in your frying pan. Make sure it is cooked all the way through, you check this by slizing it in half, if it’s still pink, don’t eat it! If you’re not happy with the seasoning, add some more until you’re satisfied.
5. Form the meatballs into golfball-size meatballs. I use an icecream-scoop to scoop up the batter, and make sure to work the meatballs well into firm and smooth balls, so that they don’t fall apart when you’re frying them.
6. Use a big frying pan or casserolle, that has enough space for both meatballs and sauce.
7. Fry your meatballs over medium heat, in a mix of butter and vegetable oil. Fry about 5 meatballs at a time, as the heat in the pan gets too low if you put too many in there. 
8. Make sure you get a nice brown color on all sides, but don’t burn them! They do not need to be cooked all the way through, as they will be cooking in your sauce later.
9. Set the cooked meatballs aside as you make the sauce, and make sure to use the same pan for the sauce without cleaning it out.

10. The tomato sauce

11. Finely chop your onion, and fry it on medium heat in oil with the garlic. Watch out not to burn the garlic.
12. Sweat the onions until they are soft and transparent, and add the wine.
13. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, making sure the alcohol has evaporated. The mix should almost get a little mushy.
14. Add the tomatoes, oregano and season with salt and pepper. Mix well, and let it bubble for around 15 minutes.
15. Add the balsamic vinegar and the cayenne pepper, and mix well. Then add the meatballs.
16. Turn the heat down to a light simmer, and make sure all the meatballs are covered well with sauce. This is also a nice time to put on your pasta water.
17. Cook for about 30 minutes, be careful about the heat, you do not want the heat to be too high. If it’s too high, your meatballs might dry out and the sauce could reduce too much.
18. When you have 10 minutes left of the cooking time of the sauce, throw in a good bunch of fresh basil, you don’t need to chop it up, just tear it lightly up and put it in the sauce.
19. Take out a meatball and check if it’s cooked all the way through. If it’s not, throw it in again and cook some more.
20. Serve with fresh parmesan grated over, and enjoy!