Extracted from Eat Well for Less: Happy & Healthy by Jo Scarratt-Jones (BBC Books, £14.99). Photography by Andrew Burton.
No-Meatballs and Spaghetti
Grated courgette makes a great ‘no-meatball’ when bound together with breadcrumbs, egg and cheese
Make sure that you squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the courgette before adding the other ingredients – you’ll be amazed at how much liquid there is in a grated courgette.
Serves
4
Preparation time
15 Minutes
Cooking time
20 Minutes
Ingredients
- 3 medium courgettes
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 100g fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 80g reduced fat mature
- Cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped basil
- 300g dried spaghetti
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180C/Gas 6.
- Coarsely grate the courgettes into a clean tea towel set over a bowl. Pick the tea towel up and squeeze out the excess moisture from the courgette. Discard the liquid.
- Tip the courgette into the bowl, then add the garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, plenty of black pepper and the cheese.
- Using your hands, mix everything together until evenly combined. Divide the mixture in half, then in half again. Divide each quarter into four so that you have 16 even-sized pieces in total. Roll each piece into a ball, arrange on a roasting tray and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat a sauté. pan or saucepan until medium hot. Add the oil and onion and cook for three to four minutes until just softened. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for one minute then add the tinned tomatoes and half the basil. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the sauce and meatballs are cooking, cook the spaghetti in a pan of boiling, salted water until tender, according to the packet instructions. Drain into a colander then immediately place the colander back over the saucepan to catch some of the cooking water.
- Toss the spaghetti and cooking water in the pan into the tomato sauce and mix well. Add the courgette balls and toss very gently until just coated in the sauce.
- Serve immediately, with the remaining basil scattered over the top.
Extracted from Eat Well for Less: Happy & Healthy by Jo Scarratt-Jones (BBC Books, £14.99). Photography by Andrew Burton.
