A big part of homemade on a weeknight cooking is having some part be the big work and using something semi-homemade to round it out. This recipe uses my roasted cherry tomato sauce and hand rolled meatballs along with store-bought cheese tortellini. This recipe for Roasted Tomato Meatball & Tortellini is so hearty and homey, the family will be asking for it over and over.
This meatball recipe works great for this dish but also works with a classic spaghetti and meatballs. Or a meatball sandwich, or Italian soup, or whatever else you might like. It’s definitely a meatball recipe you want to keep around. You can also swap out the type of ground meat – it works with chicken, turkey or pork. You will want to adjust the cook time if you go with chicken or turkey, to ensure that they are cooked all the way through.
The roasted cherry tomato sauce is so very flavorful. It does take the extra effort of roasting the onions garlic olive oil and cherry tomatoes. If you over planted cherry tomatoes like I did, you will love this recipe to use them up. The sauce also works just over spaghetti or on pizza. If you have Roma or other types of tomatoes it will work as well. If you are using a larger variety of tomato, you will want to cut them into quarters or halves so that it cooks through evenly. If you do not have an immersion blender (seriously consider getting one!) you can use a regular blender or food processor. Just remember to use caution when blitzing hot things in a closed container. The heat that is put off can build up pressure and make the top blow.
Now Let’s Get Cookin’!
Roast Tomato Meatball & Tortellini
Equipment
Ingredients
- 24 oz Refrigerator Cheese Tortellini
For the Roasted Tomato Sauce
- 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 White Onion cut into 8 even wedges
- 4 Garlic Cloves peeled
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
- ½ cup Fresh Basil Leaves
- ½ cup Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- ½-1 cup Water depending on desired consistency
For the Meatballs
- 1½ lb Ground Beef
- 1 cup Italian Breadcrumbs
- 1 Egg beaten
- 1 tbsp Dried Minced Onion
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400degF
- On a parchment paper covered rimmed baking sheet, add tomatoes, onions, fresh basil and garlic. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes (a small bit of charring is fine, but don't let it burn).
- In a mixing bowl, add meatball ingredients and thoroughly combine. Using a two ounce scoop to portion into meatballs. Roll between your hands to form into balls. Line out on a parchment paper covered baking sheet with a cooking rack on top (spray with cooking oil if desired). Place in oven to bake for 30 minutes.
- Start water boiling for tortellini.
- Remove both trays from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Transfer tomatoes to a mixing bowl and let cool another 10 minutes.
- Add Worcestershire, honey and half cup of water to bowl and then blitz with immersion blender. Keep blitzing until smooth. Add water (a tablespoon, at a time) until sauce is at desired consistency.
- Add tortellini to boiling water and cook as directed by the package. Carefully drain in a colander.
- Add a portion of tortellini to a shallow pasta bowl. Add a portion of meatballs (6-8) then ladle sauce over top. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.
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Estelle Forrest self-published this cookbook after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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Mmm looks delicious! Thanks for joining in on Home Matters Linky Party! I will be featuring your post this week! #HomeMattersParty xx
Thank you so much for the support!
Very lovely and so appetizing. WOW