… I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed!  (aarrgg, I’m going to be singing that all week now!)

So, I haven’t had a chance to spend my first £5 yet so this is a true store-cupboard/ freezer recipe. I quite often seem to end up with burgers at the back of my freezer left over from the BBQ season and I enjoy being a bit creative with them. This is the first time I have made them into meatballs to go with pasta though, so this is a true Kitty’s Store Cupboard experiment. I have rather unfortunately run out of onions so I will have to make up for it by using lots of garlic!

The amounts given below served two adults and two children.

Ingredients:

• a couple of burgers from the freezer, completely defrosted
• a tin of tomatoes
• 2/3 cloves of garlic
• dried mixed Mediterranean herbs
• dried oregano
• tomato purée
• a splash of red wine
• dried spaghetti
• a handful of grated cheese

Ingredients that I could have included if I had them: onions, courgette, mushrooms, fresh basil.

Cut the burgers into quarters and shape into meatballs. Fry these  for approx 5 minutes in just enough oil so that they don’t stick, along with the garlic (crushed or finely chopped) some black pepper and the dried herbs. Turn frequently and add more oil if required.

Next add the tin of tomatoes (making sure that you swill it out with a little warm water so that you don’t waste any), a good squidge of tomato purée and the wine. I tend to freeze wine if I have some left in a bottle that has been open a little too long (yes, it does happen sometimes!) and then scoop out as much as I require.

When the sauce is warmed through, taste and add salt and pepper if required. Cook the spaghetti as instructed on the packet and serve with cheese on top. I like to add chilly flakes to tomato-based pasta sauces – but depending on who you are serving it to it can best to put it on the table so that people can help themselves.