I hate to waste food. Before I take a trip to the grocery store, I always check my fridge first and use what is still in there as my starting point for the next dinner. By doing so, I do not only challenge myself to use my imagination and combine ingredients, but at the same time it also reduces the chance of having to throw out food because it has gone bad.
Sure enough I am not a saint and sometimes things do end up in the bin, but I really try to make a conscious effort to minimize my food waste.

Another thing I loathe to do is to poor the remainder of a good bottle of wine down the sink. Even though my friends and I enjoy a bottle (or two, three…) during our weekend dinners, it does occasionally happen that a bottle goes unfinished. If the consumed amount of alcohol did not prevent me from remembering to put the cork back in the bottle (which I have learned is essential to keeping wine taste nice) I like to label this bottle as cooking wine!
If I have more than half a bottle left and it is horrible and cold outside, I love to make a proper slow-cooked red wine beef stew. If I do not have the time, it is finally nice and sunny, or I have less than 1/3 of a bottle left, I prefer to make my version of a no fail, super easy, and very tasty meatball spaghetti dish.

I believe every person should have at least 5 dishes in his/her cooking repertoire that you can cook really well, but at the same time do not require much time and effort. That way you can never go wrong when friends come over for dinner and it gives you time to sit down and talk to your guests. If you have trouble getting to 5 or you have grown tired of your usual recipes, I highly recommend you add this recipe to your routine.

Making meatballs from scratch usually takes quite a bit of time and also leaves you with a set of dirty hands. I promise that this meatball recipe is not only super quick, but it also does not involve vigorous scrubbing of the hands.
The trick for instant meatballs in 3 easy steps:
1. Buy some good quality sausages
2. wet your hands with water (which prevents the meat from sticking to your hands)
3. Take a sausage and gently push a section of the meat out of the skin, into a bowl or straight into the pan. I usually manage to squeeze at least 5 or 6 balls out of one sausage.

Because this dish does not require many ingredients, I think it is essential to go for the best quality sausage, cherry tomatoes, black olives and parmesan cheese you can get. I personally also prefer to use fresh pasta, but if you can not get that it also works fine with any dried version.

Ingredients for 2 people (cooking time 15 minutes):

– 250 grams of Italian sausage (I like to use lamb-sausages, but veal or pork sausages will do fine as well)
– 1 shallot finely chopped
– 1 clove of garlic chopped
– 1 small can of concentrated tomato puree (70 grams)
– 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
– 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary
– 1 full glass of red wine (a little bit more does not hurt either)

– 20 Cherry tomatos (halved)
– 3 tablespoons of small sun-dried black olives (preferably in oil)

– A bunch op chopped basil
– 2 hands full of freshly grated parmesan cheese

– 250 grams of fresh spaghetti or tagliatelle

Start with putting a big pan with salted water on the stove and bring to the boil.
Then place a frying pan on a high heat and add the little meatballs that you have created by pushing the meat out of the sausage skin. You can add a little bit of olive oil to the pan, but most of the time the sausages contain enough fat to cook in their own grease. When the sausages are turning a little brown, add the chopped shallot and garlic to the pan and fry for two more minutes. When the meatballs are browned, add the tomato puree, the wine and the fresh herbs and give it a good stir. Let this bubble away for a couple minutes. Now add the halved cherry tomatoes and the sun-dried olives and let it simmer over a low heat for a couple more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Now it is time to put the fresh pasta into the boiling water and cook according to the instructions on the package, usually this takes 3/4 minutes. (If you use dried pasta you should start cooking the pasta and the sauce at the same time)
If the sauce looks too thick, just add a bit of the boiling pasta-water to dilute the sauce.

Drain your pasta when it is all dente and poor it into a nice serving dish. Add the pasta sauce and sprinkle with the chopped basil and parmesan cheese. Stir everything together so that all the pasta is covered in sauce and it looks pretty. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Please do not despair if you do not have some wine left from a previous night. It is perfectly acceptable to buy a bottle of wine for this recipe and use the remainder of the bottle for drinking!

I like to serve this pasta with a a simple, fresh salad. This time I made the salad with: thinly sliced fennel, baby lettuce leaves, capers (optional), some good olive oil and a sprinkle of lemon juice. It really can be as easy as that!