Meatballs in simple tomato sauce

Make a panade: a couple slices of bread with an egg and some milk.

Add a fairly generous amount of grated Pecorino Romano.

Bunch parsley and basil together, chop, and add.

Add a pound of ground beef and half a pound of ground pork, seasoned by eye, and mix.

Put a decent layer of extra virgin olive oil in the pan.

With wet hands, form small meatballs and add them while the pan heats (in a stainless pan, wait for the oil to get hot first).

Fry, flipping, until deeply browned on a couple of sides but still pale elsewhere so they stay juicy; remove and fry the rest in batches. They are not cooked through.

Pour off most of the oil, leaving the brown bits; add a little water and scrape them up.

Add a can of good crushed tomatoes, stir in the brown bits, and add two sprigs of basil and a couple of parsley stems; season with salt.

Return the meatballs to the sauce and simmer until just cooked through, about five to seven minutes.

Plate the meatballs with sauce and finish with grated Pecorino, clumps of burrata, chopped parsley and basil, a drizzle of good oil, and pepper.

To check seasoning, microwave a dime-sized piece of the raw mix about 10 seconds and taste.