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Jamie Oliver’s Meatball Traybake

Hidden in these meatballs from Jamie Oliver are cannellini beans for an added fibre bonus. They are nestled in a pepper-tomato sauce with roasted fennel and carrots to make a quick and easy one-tin meal.

From the book

Introduction

Using an old friend like meatballs to get some beans into your life is a tasty, nutritious win.

Find more recipes from Jamie’s TV series, Eat Yourself Healthy, here.

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Ingredients

1 large bulb of fennel (320g)
2 red onions (320g)
4 carrots
1 x 400g tin of cannellini beans
400g beef or pork mince
1 tsp dried oregano
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
1 x 460g jar of roasted red peppers
1 lemon
50g feta cheese

Essential kit

You will need: a 30cm x 40cm roasting tray.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Trim the fennel, reserving any leafy tops, peel the onions, then cut it all into wedges and place in a deep 30cm x 40cm roasting tray. Peel, halve and add the carrots. Toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil, season with sea salt and black pepper, and roast for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain the beans and pulse a couple of times in a food processor. Add the mince and oregano, season, and pulse until just combined. With clean wet hands, divide the mixture into 12, roll into balls, then place in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat with 2 tbsp of oil and cook until golden all over, turning regularly.

Pour the tomatoes and peppers, juice and all, into the processor (there’s no need to clean it). Finely grate and reserve the lemon zest, then squeeze the juice into the processor, season and blitz until smooth.

Remove the tray from the oven, pour the sauce over the veg, then evenly sit the golden balls around the tray. Return to the oven for a final 20 minutes.

To serve, crumble over the feta, sprinkle over the reserved lemon zest and any fennel tops, and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, if you like. Great as it is, or with wholemeal toast, couscous, rice or spaghetti.

Veggie love: Veggie mince works very well in place of beef or pork mince.

ENERGY 441kcal FAT 18.1g SAT FAT  5.3g PROTEIN  33g CARBS  36.4g SUGARS  19.7g SALT 1.3g FIBRE 13.3g

Reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars

10 Ratings

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10 Comments

    default user avatar J Clarke

    The veg takes ages to cook . Finished up in the microwave
    The meat balls all disintegrated so it was hope less

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    default user avatar Tracy F.

    Love this! It’s all about HEALTHY eating so what a fantastic recipe that’s also good for you!
    Tasty and nutritious, I’d make this again. Thoroughly enjoyed this with crusty bread. Thanks Jamie! You genius you! X

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    default user avatar Jay Kaypee

    A lot of faffing around prepping you wouldn’t want to make this on a school night. Meatballs were dry although I added olive oil to the mix I’d avoid mixing with beans if you’re trying this. I added aubergine fennel seeds and sliced garlic to the roast veg and anchovies to the sauce which worked quite well. It was better after reheating the leftovers. It’s quite tasty but wasn’t the sensational dish promised from the TV show.

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    default user avatar Shirley Chisnall

    It’s hard to improve on regular recipes for homemade meatballs and tomato sauce this recipe wasn’t without a few issues, and we didn’t particularly like the texture, or flavour using the cannellini beans, they just didn’t taste like meatballs. The sauce separated a bit watery when served, maybe I didn’t blend it quite enough

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    default user avatar Chris.

    Didn’t like it nor did my family. Quite dry. The taste of fennel overpowered the dish. The meatballs were ruined with the beans. I would try this again, but would drop the fennel and have the beans in the sauce rather than in the meatballs. Also, I would quarter the carrots, so that they would cook faster, or maybe steam them before they are roasted.

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    default user avatar Bill Bowman

    This is a tasty recipe but is a quite dry. I would recomment adding some passatta or water to the tomato sauce. I prefer the meatballs without the added beans which is an easy adaptation.

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    default user avatar Elizabeth

    I enjoyed it. An awful lot of prep though so I’m not sure I enjoyed enough to make again. My son did not like it he thought sauce a bit too sweet. That could have been my seasoning was lacking

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    default user avatar Michelle Quinn

    It is the first time I have eaten meatballs – loved it and so did my teenage kids. Thank you Jamie x

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    default user avatar Fiona Walker

    Absolutely disgusting and I consider myself able to follow a recipe well. Don’t even bother with this abysmal recipe. Went in the bin.

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    default user avatar Sheila Brownsea

    It looks delicious. Just off to the shops to get the ingredients. Been diagnosed being pre diabetic so this series looks to be the one for me.

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From the book: Eat Yourself Healthy

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