Recipe: Meatballs with Risoni

I didn’t really know what Risoni was before I found this recipe, but now I know that it is a kind of pasta, and a pretty tasty one at that.  I have made this a few times now and the children love it, we love it too luckily.

It is a good recipe for the children to help you prepare, they love to make the meatballs, getting in and getting their little hands all covered in mixture. The Little Mans meatballs end up all mixed back up together and he tends to flatten then out, rather than roll them into balls, but he has fun which is the main thing.

It only takes about 25 mins to cook, so it is pretty quick and easy. The longest thing to make is the meatballs, certainly if you have little hands helping you.

Here is the Recipe - I have put in some pictures, but the photos doesn’t really do the finished product  justice, it looks much nicer in real life, but it gives you an idea.

Ingredients

500g Lean Beef Mince
1 Litre of Beef Stock - I buy the ready made one in the supermarket
1/2 Cup of Water
1 Egg
1 Cup Dried Bread Crumbs
1 tbspn dried Rosemary
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups Risoni Pasta - Yes you find it in the pasta Isle
3 Medium Ripe Tomatoes, diced
2 Medium Zucchini -  Cut into strips

Putting it altogether

1. Combine Mince with 1/2 Cup of stock, egg, breadcrumbs and Rosemary. Roll into balls, don’t make them too big or they take too long to cook.

2. Heat oil in a large frying pan & cook meatballs until brown all over. Pour over the remaining stock and the water and cook, covered, for 10 mins. My fry pan doesn’t have a lid so I just use the pizza tray and put it over the top. Just be careful when removing it as it gets very hot, so best to use your oven gloves.

3. Add Risoni, tomatoes and zucchini and cook, uncovered for 9 mins, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente and the meatballs are cook right through. If you made the meatballs small then you this is plenty of time for them to cook.

All done, place in bowls and eat it all up, if there are any left overs, I bet you will go back for seconds, I always do.

Let me know how you go and if your kids liked it. I know that my little ones do.

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