Bite Size Pork & Fennel Meatballs

These are so yummy; make a great meal for adults too. My son loves these with pasta, sweet potato wedges or just simply on their own as a light lunch with some vegetable sticks. Make a large batch and freeze what you don't use. Make sure you freeze in a clean air tight container – keep no longer than a month. If you’re like me though, I will always cook a few more than I need to for James as a little Mummy treat for me!

Makes 40-50 mini meatballs 

Ingredients

225g pork sausage meat

225g pork mince

1 onion finely chopped

2 garlic cloves finely slice

6 tbsp breadcrumbs

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1 orange

3 sprigs of thyme

1.5 tsp fennel seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 180c.

Heat a little olive oil over a medium heat and add the onions. Sweat without browning for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the garlic, stir, and cook for a further 3 minutes. Set aside to cool a little.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sausage meat and pork mince, breadcrumbs, tomato puree, parmesan cheese and fennel seeds. Grate the zest of the orange and add this to the bowl. Remove the thyme leaves from the sprigs and add these too, and season with pepper. Mix well with your hands until everything is well combined. Add in the cooled onion and garlic mixture and mix some more. Make small sized balls from the pork mixture – roughly about the size of a cherry tomato.

In a heavy ovenproof pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil over a medium heat and carefully add the meatballs in a single layer making sure not to over crowd the pan. After a couple of minutes turn the meatballs careful not to break them apart - and continue cooking and turning until browned on all sides but not cooked through.

Pop into your preheated oven for 10 minutes. Check that the meatballs are fully cooked through. If freezing ensure that the meatballs are cooled down quickly. These will also last in the fridge for three days (the day you make them and then two after).