Lady and The Tramp-Inspired Oven-Baked Meatballs with Goat's Cheese

This month's Food 'n' Flix is a lovely Disney film: Lady and the Tramp. It was chosen by Elizabeth at The Lawyer's Cookbook and is perfect for Valentine's day. I must have been quite young when I first saw this film and thought it was lovely, and was particularly taken by Lady (less a fan of the scruffy Tramp!) but I remember cringing when they kissed, in a 'boys are icky' sort of way!

But the scene where Lady and her beau eat the plate of spaghetti and meatballs, and find they are sucking up the same strand of pasta when their mouths meet in a kiss, is iconic. It's been parodied so many times but is actually very sweet. So I couldn't really make anything else for Food 'n' Flix!

I have made spaghetti and meatballs before so wanted to do something a bit different this time. I found a recipe in Slimming World magazine for oven-baked meatballs with cheese melted over the top, which was something I hadn't tried. I adapted the recipe, leaving out the courgette and aubergine as I don't like them.

To serve two, you need:
1 onion, finely chopped
250g lean beef mince
1 tsp dried oregano
1 garlic clove, crushed
salt, pepper
200g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sweetener
200g passata
75ml vegetable stock
100g goat's cheese
pasta to serve

Preheat oven to 180C. In a large bowl mix half the onion, the mince, oregano, garlic and seasoning and roll into balls. In another bowl mix the tinned tomatoes, sweetener, passata and vegetable stock. Place the meatballs in an oven proof dish, pour over the tomato mixture and top with goat's cheese. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes depending on how big you've made your meatballs.

While the meatballs are cooking, boil the pasta according to pack instructions. Serve the meatballs and the sauce over the pasta. I used fusilli but for a true Lady and the Tramp experience you should of course use spaghetti!

As mentioned above I'm sending this to Food 'n' Flix.