I recently participated in a twitter thread whereby I was asked what my 6 favourite snacks were. One of my answers caused a bit of a stir. I happened to mention that I love Nachos with beetroot sauce. The sauce (up until now) has been a bit of a secret. It is so versatile; it can be used over pasta, with Nachos, as a dip, in casseroles but my family love it most with my home made meat-balls. So here is how I make our favourite meal. The only meal I can say that has had clean plates at the end, each and every time I have made it!
For the Meat-balls
500g very lean pork mince,
2 slices finely crumbed wholemeal bread,
1 Oxo Cube (beef stock cube)
1 handful of spinach blitzed up, (top tip I keep the spinach in the freezer as there is usually quite a lot. Taking it straight from the freezer my blender manages to cope, you can also add it to smoothies too.)
Method
1: Crumb the slices of bread in a blender with the Oxo cube and put into bowl with the mince.
2: Blitz up the spinach and add that to the mince. Mix the ingredients together (the best way is with your hands if you can stomach it!) and make into approximately 12 meat balls, or 6 hamburger shapes. Bake on parchment paper in the oven at 180c for 20 minutes (25 mins for burgers)
For the Sauce
500g pre-cooked beetroot,
500g carton of passata,
half a tube of tomato puree,
a squeeze of tomato sauce.
Method
1: Blitz up the beetroot, including the juice in the packet (you can either leave some chunks or totally blitz until it is smooth. Both work equally well.)
2: Add the beetroot into a pan, with the passata, puree and tomato sauce to taste (I have lessened and lessened this over time and have at times missed it out and the sauce is still good.) and simmer gently for about 20mins. Stir when required. (You may need to cover sauce as this can spit if heated too fast)
3: My kids enjoy this dish with tagliatelli, which I also cook alongside the sauce. The sauce once it has reduced a little can be added to the pasta, onto the meatballs or served separately as a dip. Add a bit of cheese if you wish and enjoy.
This sauce keeps really well in the fridge or freezer. Usually I have a small amount of sauce left over. The next day I either add it to a pasta bake or nachos which works really well. Or just replace it for any tomato sauce based recipe for an earthier twist.
This is my first attempt at a recipe blog (it is also my own creation, any similarity to other recipes is purely coincidental) and I would be pleased if you could let me know what you think, and whether it is something you might like to try! You can also catch me at www.derbyshireduckie.com or redbubble.com/people/derbyshireduck
Derbyshireduckie 
I have posted several recipes for Polish meatballs (kotlety) with cabbage which work really well – I am sure this spinach addition will be lovely – will try it soon.
Beetroot is beloved by Poles! – So much try this sauce as well.
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Oooh I shall have to have a look
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This sounds good! I’m not a massive fan of beetroot but I feel I need to try this sauce to see if I can squeeze the extra veg into the toddler! The meatballs also sound great, I’d never thought about sneaking spinach into them.
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I know what’s u mean beetroot has such an earthy taste but honestly it makes a lovely glossy sauce with no real effort. Maybe start by adding just one or two bulbs of beetroot rather than the entire pack that way you haven’t wasted any sauce.
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My husband loves beets, I hated them as a child, but think this might be delicious. I don’t know what Passata is though, is that pureed tomatoes? Thanks for sharing.
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I looked it up, yes, it’s strained or pureed tomatoes. I personally think passata sounds better.
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I know what you mean I always think of pulled muscles when I hear the word ‘strained’! I have funny images of animated tomatoes doing a marathon in my head!
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Think you might call it sieved tomatoes, it is very smooth and thinner than the purée you get in a tube. Hope that helps.
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