It is a rare occurrence for a family in Australia to say no to a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. It has regularly ranked as number one on recipe search engines and the ingredients have been loaded in supermarket trolleys since the 1960s. It is a midweek standby, a weekend favourite and even something special for a celebration. Add some crusty bread, a crisp green salad and perhaps a glass of chianti or a sangiovese for a feast that would do the Italians proud.

Essential ingredients for a great spaghetti and meatballs dinner are pork mince, beef mince, pasta, sauce and olive oil.  As luck would have it, these are the foods being judged at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show over the coming weeks. Even luckier, we have a Sydney Royal Medal Winning Spaghetti & Meatballs recipe supplied by Tim Browne, Executive Chef, Sydney Showground to share.

Serves 4

Meatballs:
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
150mls Sydney Royal Medal winning extra virgin Olive Oil
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
zest from 1 lemon
250gm Sydney Royal Medal winning pork mince
250gm Sydney Royal Medal winning beef mince
250 gm Sydney Royal Medal winning ricotta
30gm Sydney Royal Medal winning parmesan
70gm fresh sourdough crumbs
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt flakes
Roast fennel seeds in a pan until fragrant 2 -3 mins. Remove and cool. Once cooled grind in spice grinder. Add olive oil to the pan and fry the onion and garlic until just tender. Remove and cool. Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for 1hour until mix is firm. Roll meatball mixture into balls (golf ball size) and return to the fridge.

Sauce:
40 mls Sydney Royal Medal winning extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
½ teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
150mls white wine
800gm tin tomatoes
Add olive oil to large braising dish and sauté garlic and chilli flakes until fragrant, add wine and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Once sauce is simmering on stove slowly add the meatballs. Don't stir the meatballs at this stage - they will break. Return sauce to a simmer, cover with lid and then place in oven at 150 degrees for 60 to 80 minutes.

Pasta:
300gm Sydney Royal Medal winning pasta
While meatballs are simmering in the oven put a large pot of water on for the pasta. Remove meatballs from the oven and cook pasta as per direction on pack. Serve meatballs with pasta and a little extra grated parmesan. Enjoy!