Winter warming meatballs

Pic and recipe from here

Okay, so I promised the meatball recipe to end all meatball recipes a few weeks back and I'm not one to go against my word.

This is Anyd Bunn's (from Vogue Entertaining & Travel April/May 2009) take on the Italian classic that I discovered while I had the sniffles a couple of weeks back. I'm still dreaming of the ah-mazing flavour and ultra smooth textures - and the best bit is, they freeze up a treat!

60g butter, chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tspn each chilli flakes, ground cumin and ground nutmeg
1/4 tspn ground clove
1 kg veal mince (I used lamb and it was fine)
1 Tbspn sea salt flakes
1/3 cup firmly packed mint leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed flat leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus extra to serve
150ml pouring cream (I know, how decadent!)
3 x 55g eggs, lightly beaten
150g (1 1/2 cups) dried breadcrumbs
50g finely grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
375g dried tagliatelle (I used angel hair and loved this lighter take on pasta)

Tomato sauce
2 Tbspn olive oil
60 g butter, chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic
5 (about 500g) roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
200ml tomato passata
1/4 tspn chilli flakes

1. For sauce, heat oil and butter in a pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for 10 minutes until softened.
2. Add all tomaotoes, passata and chilli and cook over low-medium heat for one hour or until thickened.
3. For meatballs, heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until soft. Stir in spices, transfer to large bowl and cool.
4. Add mince to onion mixture with salt, herbs, cream, eggs, breadcrumbs and parmesan. Using hands, mix well to combine. Shape into balls (I made mine cocktail size) and place on a plastic wrap-lined tray. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until chilled and firm.
5. Preheat oven to 200C. Heat olive oil in frying pan over medium heat, add half the meatballs and cook, turning occasionally for 5 mins or until evenly browned. Drain on paper towel, then repeat with remaining meatballs.
6. Place meatballs in a large ovenproof dish, pour over tomato sauce and cover with foil. Bake for 30 mins or until cooked through.
7. 1o mins before meatballs are ready, cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water until al dente, then drain.
8. To serve, scatter pasta with extra parsley, chop with meatballs and sauce, and sprinkle over extra parmesan.