Beef and Lentil Balls with Tomato Sauce

Name: Beef and Lentil Balls with Tomato Sauce
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: salt and ground black pepper; 300 ml/½ pint/1¼ cups vegetable stock; 15 ml/1 tbsp olive oil; 2 bay leaves; mashed potatoes and green salad, to serve; 2 large handfuls of chopped fresh parsley; 60 ml/4 tbsp dry red wine; 30 ml/2 tbsp tomato purée (paste); 400 g/14 oz can plum tomatoes; 4 onions, finely chopped; 30’45 ml/2’3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 2 celery sticks, finely chopped; 2 eggs; 2 large carrots, finely chopped; 2 onions, finely chopped; 200 g/7 oz/scant 1 cup brown lentils; 2 x 400 g/14 oz cans chopped tomatoes; 175 ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup red wine; 400 g/14 oz lean minced (ground) beef; 3 fresh dill sprigs, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Lentil Cookbook

By Ghillie Basan

Published 2016

About

Mixing brown lentils with minced beef not only boosts the texture and fibre content of these healthy Mediterranean meatballs, but also adds to their flavour.

Ingredients

15 ml/1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped

Main course
Gluten-free

Method

Make the tomato sauce. Combine the onions, tomatoes and red wine in a pan. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes. Purée the mixture in a blender or food processor, then return it to the clean pan and set aside.
Make the meatballs. Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan and cook the chopped onions, celery and carrots for 5’10 minute