A super wee recipe for some lush meatballs and tomato sauce using Wild and Game products.

Wild and Game, are a not-for-profit company on a mission to boost game consumption in the UK. They sell a huge range of game ready meals, pies, pasties, sausage rolls and more from its online shop. Its website also contains plenty of recipe ideas to inspire people to try cooking with game.

As with its approach to its ready meals, many of the recipes are well-known favourites re-imagined with game as a key ingredient; so here is the latest Wild and Game recipe: meatballs with a game twist.

This simple recipe creates big, tender meatballs with a rich burst of melting pate in the middle. It makes a great starter or tapas dish and works beautifully as a sauce with pasta. Makes 16-18 meatballs (feeds 4)

Ingredients: For the meatballs

3 slices (about 120g) white bread
500g pork mince and 500g beef mince – or for a richer version, substitute these with 1kg venison mince, available from Wild and Game
2 tsp mixed Italian herbs
1 tsp garlic granules
3 medium eggs
Salt and pepper – a couple of pinches of each
1 x 120 g tub of Wild and Game Pheasant, apple and Calvados pate
A generous glug of olive oil

For the tomato sauce (double this if you like a lot of sauce, or if you are serving with pasta)

1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1 pinch chilli powder
2 pinches ground cumin
1 pinch ground coriander
2 tins tomato
A glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method

First, make the meatballs:
Pre-heat the over to 200 degrees centigrade/gas mark 6.
Tear the bread into pieces and place it in a food processor and whizz until you have fairly fine breadcrumbs.
Add all the other ingredients except for the oil, whizzing between additions, until they are all finely chopped and fully mixed.
Using a dessert spoon, measure out a spoonful of the mixture, make an indentation in it with your thumb, and pop in about a third of a teaspoon of pate. Take another spoonful of the mix, place this on top, and roll in your hands until you have a ball. Place on a plate and repeat until all the mixture is used up.
Heat the olive oil in a wok or large frying pan, and cook the meatballs, turning regularly, until well browned. As each one if browned, remove it and place it on a greased baking tray.
Place all the browned meatballs in the oven for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Serve with the sauce.

To make the sauce:

Chop the onion and crush the garlic.
Fry in the olive oil until soft.
Add the spices and cook for about 30 seconds.
Add the tomatoes and cook for about 20 minutes.
Season to taste.

Dish it all up and get stuck in!

Visit www.wildandgame.co.uk to purchase products

RECIPE : Meatballs with molten Wild and Game pate centres