Regular readers amongst you have probably noticed I don’t cook or eat much red meat. I’ve never been a big fan partly because of the taste. But the worst part for me is the smell of cooking meat, especially the browning part. It turns my stomach. So at home I stick to chicken which I can just about deal with and fish when Mr C approves!
To cut this story short, I was leafing through Jamie’s Italy earlier in the week and hit a small jackpot – tuna meatballs!
I made them last night and they were surprisingly pleasant. The cinnamon on the tuna was a great mix.
Le migliori polpette di tonna (Serves 4)
For the sauce:
- olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 x 400g tin plum tomatoes
- red wine vinegar
For The Tunaballs:
- 400g steak tuna
- olive oil
- 55g pinenuts
- 1 level teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- handful chopped fresh parsley
- 100g stale breadcrumbs
- 55g Parmesan
- 2 eggs
- juice of 1 lemon
How to Do It
- Chop the tuna in 1″ squares
- Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan
- Add the tuna, cinnamon and pinenuts. Season with salt & pepper and cook until tuna has browned on all sides
- Tip the tuna mixture into a big bowl and leave to cool for 5 minutes
- Once cooled, add the other ingredients and using your hands mix together
- Squeeze the mixture into small balls (slightly smaller than a golf ball)
- Pop the meatballs on an oiled baking tray and leave them in the fridge for an hour
As soon as the meatballs go in the fridge, start the tomato sauce:
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil on pan and gently fry the onion and garlic until soft
- Add the oregano, tomatoes and season with salt & pepper
- Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes
- Then using a hand held blender liquidise until smooth
- Taste for seasoning & add a dash of red wine vinegar if needed
- Once out of the fridge, heat oil in the same frying pan as before and gently fry the meatballs until golden all over – be careful as my first batch crumbled away into lots of bits!
Serve with the tomato sauce and spaggetti

I made 1/2 the tuna amount but the full amount of tomato sauce and have frozen it for next time – or another pasta dish.