Beef Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce: Baked Recipe with Couscous

Step-by-step recipe

1. This time we decided not to use pork or any added fat in the mince, and stuck to beef flesh. Beef meatballs turn out very well and don't need a noticeable amount of binder such as breadcrumbs or egg white. To give the meatballs aroma and a spicy flavor, we added hot pepper and garlic to the mince, as well as sweet paprika and aromatic dried herbs.
   
2. Beef (veal works too, by the way): remove any bones and membranes. Shoulder or the rear cut is best. Grind the meat into mince with a meat grinder, then pass the mince through the grinder once more. Pick all the leaves off the parsley sprigs and chop them finely with a knife; discard the stems. Peel the hot pepper and garlic (amount to taste) and chop them finely with a knife too. Add everything to the minced meat. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and add 0.5 tsp each of dried sweet paprika and a mix of aromatic herbs: savory, oregano and basil.
   
3. Mix the mince thoroughly so the spices are evenly distributed. So the meatballs hold their shape while baking, add a little egg white or breadcrumbs to the mince. I usually add 1 tbsp of dry French baguette, grated and sifted. By the way, to help the mince hold its shape you can also blend it with an immersion blender. The finer texture binds itself during cooking, tested on steamed chicken cutlets.
   
4. Knead the mince very thoroughly by hand, cover it with a saucer and put it in the fridge while the tomato sauce is cooking and the oven is heating. The breadcrumbs need a little time to soften. By the way, instead of salt you can pour 1 tbsp of soy sauce into the mince: it is salty enough and improves the overall flavor.
   
5. Make a tomato purée from the tomatoes. If you are used to it, you can scald the tomatoes with boiling water, peel them, remove the seeds, and then blend the flesh. It is quicker and easier to cut the tomatoes, remove the white parts and purée the tomatoes together with the seeds and skins. Then rub the purée through a sieve or a mesh colander. Season the strained tomato purée with salt and pepper. If you like, add a little sugar so the meatballs bake in a sweet-and-sour tomato sauce.
   
7. You will need a small ceramic or glass baking dish. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the dish with vegetable oil. With wet hands, divide the mince into 10-12 parts and roll meatballs, pressing the mince slightly with your hands. Put all the meatballs in the dish, leaving gaps between them. Brush the meat with vegetable oil.
   
8. Put the dish with the meatballs into an oven preheated to 200-210 degrees (°C) for 15 minutes. The meatballs need to heat through and the surface should start to brown. The oil film heats up quickly, and signs of browning appear fast.
   
9. In a small saucepan, heat all the tomato purée until it starts to boil. Pour it over the meatballs in the dish, filling all the gaps so the tomato comes almost to the top of the meatballs. You can skip heating the tomato, but then cooking will take longer.
   
10. Put the dish with the meatballs back in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. During this time the sauce will start to boil down and reduce. Meatballs baked in tomato sauce will be guaranteed done. Keep an eye on them so the sauce doesn't start to burn.
    
11. While the meatballs bake, prepare a side dish if you like. We steamed couscous in boiling water, adding olive oil, salt and a little hot spice. Spread the ready couscous around the edge of the plate to make a hollow in the center. Place the meatballs in the hollow; the number per serving depends on their size. Garnish with parsley sprigs.
    
12. Serve the beef meatballs in tomato sauce with couscous while they are hot. A complete second course with a side dish. If you are making the meatballs for a festive table, you can serve them right in the dish they were baked in, and serve the side dish and sliced vegetables separately.