Vodka and Chili 'Meatballs'

As I've said before I'm not a huge fan of meat substitutes but after trying Redwood's Gourmet Meat Free Meatballs at vegan pot luck III, I couldn't wait to try out my own recipe with them. Now I hate Vodka, it actually makes my skin crawl. It reminds me of underage drinking in cold wet parks (straight from the bottle, ew) and generally feeling ill. But it makes this chili and tomato pasta sauce taste about 100 times better, so even if you hate the stuff it's still worth a try. It's a really quick and easy recipe and it's making me reconsider my stance on fake meats (still out on the Vodka thing though).

Serves 4

Olive oil

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic

1 small red chili

500g cherry tomatoes

Handful of mixed italian herbs (or just basil if you want)

40ml vodka

Salt and pepper

20 redwood meat balls

400g spaghetti

1. First put the onions, garlic and chili in a frying pan and then soften in some oil on a low heat for around 5 minutes. 
2. Then make the sauce, I like to put every thing in the food processor, (mainly so I can hide the vegetables from my boyfriend) but you can chop everything up if you want a chunky sauce.
   So if you are using the processor the tomatoes and herbs in to the food processor until its well blended. 
3. Pour the tomatoes over the onions, add the vodka, salt and pepper and mix well. 
4. Then leave to simmer, put the spaghetti on and cook the meatballs according to the instructions. 
5. When everything is ready put meatballs on top of the spaghetti, top with the sauce and enjoy.

I used garlic and basil spaghetti, but any will do. My boyfriend didn't like the green spaghetti, he said it was like picking up slippery eels.

Posted in: vegan, vegetarian