Albóndigas (Meatballs in spicy tomato sauce)

For the meatballs In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients (not the olive oil) until you have a nice stiff consistency. Cover and leave in the fridge for about half an hour. When ready, make your meatballs, taking about a tablespoon of mixture for each one. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and fry the meatballs in batches on a med-high heat. You want them nicely browned. Add more oil if necessary for each batch. Drain on some kitchen roll and keep warm.

Use the same frying pan (but tip out any excess fat) to make use of the lovely meat juices that should have caramelized on the bottom. Add the oil if necessary and cook the onion until soft and translucent, then add the garlic, a few grinds of black pepper and cook for another minute or so. Make sure you don’t burn the garlic as it will taste bitter. Add the wine and increase the heat to high, let the wine boil for a minute or so to intensify the flavor. Add the can of tomatoes, the puree and the stock. Bring back to a boil then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the peas, stir in the cayenne pepper and the meatballs and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.

Serve it up, piping hot, straight from the pan with plenty of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.