Penne con Polpettine

Polpettine is Italian for tiny meatballs. As i was goin through my kitchen cabinet, i found bout 1/4 packet of penne left layin around. So i checked for the expiry date and i have till the end of the year, so i thought i might as well cook before i forget bout it. Its been a good few months since i last cooked pasta. And i thought, wht a perfect timing to do it now!

I dont have much ingredients at home so for this dish its more like do with wht i have in the kitchen cabinet and the fridge.

Ingredients:

Meatballs
* lean pork mince
* paprika
* breadcrumbs
* finely chopped onions
* finely chopped garlic
* salt
* black pepper
* egg,beaten
* all- purpose seasoned flour

Method:
1) Combine the first 8 ingredients together
2) Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls
3)  Then roll the balls in the seasoned flour

Sauce
* chopped onions
* finely chopped garlic
* finely shredded carrot
* chopped fresh tomatoes
* butter
* salt
* sugar
* chicken stock
* black pepper
* tomato puree
* tomato paste

Method:
1) Saute the garlic and onions with butter
2) Next, add the shredded carrot followed by chopped tomatoes
3) Pour the chicken stock in and bring to boil
4) Add tomato puree and paste
5) Season with salt and sugar 
6) Add in more butter if you like
7) Lastly add in black pepper.

As for the meatballs, you can either drop all the balls into the sauce and let it simmer or you can coat it only when you're bout to dig into your food. Also do add in some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on your pasta, if you have any at home. Parmesan will do good in the meatballs mixture as well. Since i dont have parmesan at home, i substituted it for paprika in the meatballs and freshly ground black pepper on my pasta.
 

Meat Balls with Dip

I've left over mince which i bought earlier and i didnt want it to be sittin in my fridge for an extra day. I'd wanted to turn it into a meat patty but too bad i dont have any burger buns at home to go with so i decided to make meat balls with it. 

You can use any type of mince but bear in mind that different type of poultry will require different seasoning ingredients to make it tastier. I had minced lean pork seasoned with black pepper, light soy sauce, fish sauce, cayenne powder, cornflour and salt. Marinate it for a few hours. 

Shape the bowl of mince into balls and coat it with cornflour then dip it in the egg batter and finally breadcrumbs. You can shape the mince into balls batch by batch. When you've put the first batch for fryin, you can prepare the second batch n so forth till you finish the bowl of mince.

As for the dip, pound the garlic and shallots together and stir-fry it with butter and after that add in water, chili sauce, tomato puree, hot chili sauce and plum sauce. Sugar and salt to taste. Keep stirring the dip over a lower fire until it thickens. When its ready dish out.