Layered Rice with Meatballs in Homemade Tomato Sauce

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Nigella is the chef, we are cooking from, this month at  and I realized, I have only made a few dishes from one of my favorite chefs.  I, particularly love her cookbooks which are personalized and filled with hints and tips for better cooking.  

If you are interested in joining in the fun and to cook like a star go on over and learn all about it.  If you have cooked something from Nigella and would like to link it up, go here.

I have also linked this to  which you will find at my buddy Joyce's Kitchen Flavours.  You can link up at recipe from a cookbook or magazine so go join in the fun.

This recipe, found here, was made with pasta but I was looking for meatballs to go with rice which is what I did.  I made several necessary changes to the recipe so check it out, if you would like to make it.

Ingredients:


For the meatballs:

1 pound of chopped beef. I would have preferred half turkey - half beef but had no turkey.
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
3 tablespoons tortilla chip crumbs
black pepper to taste

For the tomato sauce:5 tomatoes (filled with flavor - these are from my garden) 
1 onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup Rice Dream For the rice:
1 1/2 cups brown rice, cooked according to package directions
1 teaspoon fresh chives, chopped - Add to rice.
1/4 cup red pepper chopped - Add to rice.Method:
To make the meatballs, just put everything in a large bowl, and then, using your hands, mix to combine, before shaping into small balls. You can use an implement but these were the directions from the original recipe and I smiled and decided to leave it, as is.

Place the meatballs on a cookie sheets that you have lined with parchment paper.

Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 22 minutes.
To make the tomato sauce, place tomatoes in a large skillet and break them up. Cook for approximately ten minutes or until broken down. You should remove the skins first but I didn't and blending everything took out most of the lumps and bumps.Add the onion and garlic to the tomato and cook for another 5 minutes. Cook a little and put the Tomato, onion, garlic , sugar and oregano into the process and blitz to a pulp. (I love how Nigella writes.)

Stir in the Rice Dream, and then drop the cooked meatballs into the sauce and heat together.Now, it is time to layer. Use a baking dish, preferably a rectangle but it is not important. Spray the bottom of the pan with cooking oil and cover with the rice. Top with half of the sauce. Then comes the meatballs covered by the other half of sauce.

Eat and enjoy.

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