Linguine with yellow tomato sauce and lemon chicken meatballs

A fabulous way to use up all your fresh tomatoes from the garden! Served with delicious lemony meatballs. I make it all in my beautiful Le Creuset braising pan and serve it right at the table, topped with herbed oil, fresh tomatoes and grated parmesan. SO yum!!

Servings: 4-6 (makes 12 meatballs)

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking: 30 minutes

Ingredients :

Meatballs:

• 900 g of ground chicken or turkey
• 1 cup ricotta
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• Zest of a lemon
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ tsp red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp dried oregano (optional)
• 4 tbsp olive oil (for frying)

Sauce:

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1.2 kg fresh yellow tomatoes, roughly chopped
• A pinch of chili flakes
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• Black pepper, to taste
• 10 fresh basil leaves

To serve:

• Herbal oil (recipe here)
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
  
  

Steps:

1. Prepare the meatball mixture in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands and form into large meatballs. I like to use about ¼ cup of mixture per meatball. Oil your hands and form into balls. Refrigerate.
2. Add olive oil to a large braising pan with a lid (Le Creuset) and heat over medium-high heat. Fry the meatballs for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove them from the pan and turn off the heat.
3. For the sauce, add more olive oil and garlic to the same pan over medium heat - cook until fragrant. Add all the tomatoes and scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits from the meatballs, this is what will give your sauce all the flavour. Let the tomatoes cook until they break down, about 7 minutes. Add the chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Transfer to a blender or use a hand blender to blend the sauce until smooth - return to the pan with the basil and simmer for another 10 minutes.
4. Fill a large pot with water, bring to a boil and cook the linguine until al dente.
5. Meanwhile, return the meatballs to the sauce, cover and simmer over low heat for about 8 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the pan and add the drained pasta to the sauce. Mix well and return the meatballs to the pasta.
6. Serve the skillet directly at the table. Serve with herbed oil, fresh cherry tomatoes and grated parmesan cheese. SO good.