Izmir Kofte - best ever meatballs

I made these meatballs for my daughter and her friend last week and it was named as "best ever meatballs". I make the meatballs using my food processor which is really quick.

Here is the recipe;

Ingredients

500 gr 10% fat beef mince

1 small onion

2 small slices of bread (can be white, wholemeal whichever is available; even better if it is a few days old)

1 egg

Handful of chopped parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon of white pepper

1/4 teaspoon all spice

Pinch of paprika

2 tablespoons of olive oil

For the tomato sauce

1 tablespoon butter

400 gr tin of chopped tomatoes or if you have the time 3 fresh tomatoes peeled and cubed

2 cloves of garlic crushed

1/2 tin of warm water

Handful of chopped parsley to garnish

1. Remove the crusts of the bread and put in the food processor and blend well until there isn't and big pieces left and all bread is crumbled.

2. Remove the bread from the food processor and keep it aside it in a bowl.

3. Chop the onions in the food processor until all is well chopped.

4. add the mince, bread, egg, parsley, salt, pepper and spices to teh food processer and blend for a minute until everything comes together.

5. Take walnut sized pieces of the meat and shape them into sausages and flatten them by pressing in your palm.

I end up with almost 20-25 meatballs.

6. Heat the olive oil in a deep pan and brown the meatballs 1-2 minutes on each side. You may need to do in 2 batches if the pan is not big enough to take all the meatballs.

7. Once the meatballs are browned take them off the pan and keep aside.

8. Add the butter to the same pan that you used for the meatballs.

9. Once butter is melted add the garlic, then tomatoes and the warm water.

10. When the tomato sauce starts simmering add put the meatballs in the sauce, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve with chopped parsley and crusty bread.