Meatballs?

[ClicksArse]

Sorry for the slightly abrupt post, I am hiding in the loo at work whilst calling on the collective wisdom of MN!

Can anybody give me an idiot-proof recipe for meatballs? I have stupidly promised someone that I will cook them for dinner tonight and have no idea what I am doing. Have Googled and some recipes talk about baking them in sauce, others talk about putting them in a pan with the sauce, some talk about cooking them separately in a frying pan then serving them with the sauce over.

I am confused so please talk me through this in words of no more than two syllables!

Thank you

I always bake mine in the oven first then mix them in the sauce just before I serve. Then I don't have to watch over them too much (as you do with frying) and they don't go mushy (as they do when I cook them in the sauce).

I use a recipe from The Dinner Lady book - can't remember the proportions, but it's basically pork or turkey mince, an egg, some breadcrumbs and some grated cheese, and maybe a few herbs. They always go down a treat with adults as well as kids!

I usually fry them in a pan then pour the sauce over - this is a personal preference for the golden brown crust - they will be fine if cooked in the sauce - just paler

Definitely pre-bake them in the oven. Otherwise all that fat from the mince will end up in the sauce and if you use lamb or beef mince (my preferred meat) then that will be just too much fat.

For pork meatballs

500g minced pork
couple of rounds of wholemeal bread in fine breadcrumbs
good tbsp of dried parsley, or handful of fresh v finely chopped
2-3 dried chillies ground finely
1-2 sage leaves
salt and black pepper

Mix all together. Form a tsp into a ball and dry fry in non-stick pan to check seasoning. Form the rest into balls a little smaller than a walnut. Dry fry. Eat a few. Make some more.

Hope you end up with enough for a meal. 500g should make 30+