Grab life by the meatballs with Sooshi Mango's saucy, cheesy and superbly easy polpette recipe.

“Meatballs with sauce isn’t just dinner, it’s Italian family therapy.” Or so say comedy trio Sooshi Mango – Joe Salanitri, Carlo Salanitri and Andrew Manfre. “And the Napoli sauce? It’s not just tomatoes and garlic, it’s a whole damn emotional journey. If you need to throw a few elbows to get to the last meatball, go ahead – it’s all part of the healing process.”

Ingredients
Makes approximately 20 meatballs

Meatballs

  • 1kg (2 lb 4 oz) minced (ground) beef
  • 1 egg
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
  • 50g (1 ¾ oz) grated parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
  • ¼ cup (60ml) full-cream (whole) milk
  • 50g (13/4 oz) breadcrumbs
  • ¼ bunch finely chopped fresh parsley
  • pinch of dried oregano
  • 15g (½ oz) salt 
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Napoli sauce

  • 100 ml (3 ½ fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) tinned crushed tomatoes
  • ½ bay leaf
  • ½ bunch fresh basil sprigs, leaves chopped
  • 3 g (¹⁄16 oz) salt
  • pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. To make the meatballs, put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together using your hands.
  3. Roll into 60 g (2¼ oz) meatballs and place on the baking tray.
  4. Bake for about 20–25 minutes, or until cooked through.
  5. While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and lightly brown the garlic, then add the onion and cook until golden.
  6. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf and half the basil, then increase the heat to high. Continue mixing while the sauce comes to the boil.
  7. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
  8. Add a little water if the sauce starts to dry out, and skim any foam that rises to the surface.
  9. Add the meatballs, stirring to coat them well in the sauce, then cover and continue cooking for another 5–10 minutes, or until the meatballs are heated through.
  10. At the end, add the salt, pepper and the remaining basil. Mix well and turn off the heat.
  11. Serve with extra grated parmesan.

Eat! By Sooshi Mango.

Eat! An Italian Cookbook by Sooshi Mango (Murdoch Books, $39.99) is out now and yours to purchase from great Victorian booksellers including Readings, and Hill of Content.