Do you ever have one of those days, where you wish you had a meal ready quickly? Do you struggle to cook? Well this could be your lucky day!

Make it easy on yourself!

Although as a rule I make meatballs myself, this time I cheated. I hadn’t bought ready made meatballs before. However, I decided to give them a try!

I then thought, why not try and use everything ready made and see how it works? Seeing as my sister is possibly the worst cook in the world, this may just suit her? We will see!

The family were all going fishing for the day. So I planned ahead and collected as much as I could to enable me to put something together quickly. It needed to be a filling meal and one that we could help ourselves to after a long, tiring, day at the beach!I know, it is tough for some isn’t it!

My favourite supermarket by far is Mercadona. Their food is always top quality including their own branded products. This is where I bought every ingredient for this meal.

After deciding on ready made meatballs, I then tried to think of something that wouldn’t entail cooking potatoes for mash, which I use when making my Swedish meatballs. We all love Swedish meatballs, it is one of the fasted meals to disappear once served up, however, it takes time to prepare and make, and I wanted something quick and easy..

We had already had pasta twice earlier in the week, so that was also off the menu.

Looking for ideas!

This dish was something I had seen many times over recent months. Instead of using pasta it used potatoes. I love potatoes of any kind.

However, this version takes literally 5 minutes to put together using the ingredients I have used. Alternatively you can make your own meatballs and a classic tomato sauce. I will add the recipes I usually use and provide links over the next couple of days.

This is how I made it!

Using an oven proof dish, arrange meatballs in neat rows. Drain and slice ready canned potatoes and set them between the meatballs and around the outside edges.

I did brown the meatballs off, more for the photo if I am honest, but you can just add them straight to your chosen dish.

What did I do?

Next, in a jug or bowl, add your tin of chopped tomatoes (drain them a little to remove excess liquid). Then add a box of Fritada Pisto, a dessert spoon or 2 of tomate frito (pureed tomato), S&P, and grate in a clove of garlic. Finally add a sprinkle of oregano, a splash of red wine and a sprinkle of paprika. I like the smoked one, Pimenton Vera. Give it a stir.

Pour your tomato sauce over the arranged meatballs and potatoes. Next pour a box of Béchamel sauce over the tomatoes and spread it out. Add another sprinkle of Oregano and finally sprinkle over ready grated Mozarella cheese. I did add another sprinkle of Oregano, just for good luck!

And that is it! It can now go into the fridge until you are ready to bake it. I baked it at 200 deg C for around an hour until it was coloured and bubbling.

So easy: even if you cannot cook, you can make this!

It is a terribly lazy dish, but extremely tasty and perfect when you are short of time, or you cannot cook! If you are making your own meatballs and buying from a local butcher, ask him to mince it twice, it makes a much firmer meatball that is less likely to fall apart. You can see my steak burger recipe, made using shop bought mince by clicking here!

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