Slow-cooked Meatball Marinara

Daniel Lambert's take on the Subway classic

Slow-cooked Meatball Marinara

SERVES

4

PEOPLE

PREP TIME

5

MINUTES

COOKING TIME

320

MINUTES

Ingredients

  • 300g beef mince  

  • 1 large onion, diced  

  • 40g breadcrumbs  

  • Leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme  

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper   

  • 2 eggs, beaten  

  • Olive oil, for frying 

  • For the sauce : 

  • 150g smoked bacon lardons  

  • 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and diced  

  • 500g tomato passata  

  • 200g plum tomatoes (½ a tin)  

  • 1 tablespoon paprika  

  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder  

  • leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme  

  • To serve: 

  • 4 baguettes or soft rolls  

  • Grated mozzarella cheese  

  • Handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped  

  • Burger sauce 

Method

  1. Start by making your meatballs. Mix the beef mince, onion, breadcrumbs, thyme, egg, and salt together and roll into golf ball-sized meatballs.

  2. Drizzle a little oil into a frying pan and fry over a medium to high heat until golden brown – they will still be raw in the middle so don’t taste them yet! Set aside for now.  

  3. To make the sauce, put a little more oil into the same pan and sweat off the bacon and chilli before adding all the remaining ingredients. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get all the meaty bits into the sauce, then crush everything down and let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes.  

  4. Put the meatballs into a slow cooker, pour this sauce over them and cook on low for 5 hours.  

  5. To serve, split and toast your baguettes or rolls under a grill, then fill with the meatballs, plenty of grated mozzarella cheese, a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley and a dollop of burger sauce.  

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