Why anyone wants to eat boring old Spaghetti Bolognese when they could be eating this beats me. This is the kind of food they all sat around eating in The Godfather, which probably explains why they were all so fat, (except you, Vito).

The key ingredient is a good high meat content, fairly spicy, Italian meatball. We make one with pork, bacon, fennel seeds, and a little chilli and garlic, which is brilliant for this recipe.

Ingredients - serves 4 - 6

500g Riverford Italian meatballs
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp Eleanthos olive oil
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
2 bay leaves
2 tins Essential chopped tomatoes
250ml red wine
150g Yeo Valley crème fraiche
120g grated Parmesan
salt, pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions for a couple of minutes. Add Italian meatballs, stirring to break up and crumble together with the rosemary and bay leaves and cook gently for about 15 minutes until the onions begin to brown and the mixture appears dry. Add the red wine, increase heat and cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Pour over the chopped tomatoes and cook at a bare simmer until you have a nice thick sauce. Stir in the crème fraiche and grated Parmesan, season with salt & black pepper to taste.

Serve over cooked pasta - I prefer something like tagliatelle or papardelle.