Meatballs & Sweet Vermouth

This exciting meatball dish uses our award winning Sweet Vermouth for a special twist on a classic. Made using wormwood, Medjool dates and 13 botanicals this specially crafted English Vermouth has a distinct, sweet aromatic flavour. The herbal notes from the thyme and rosemary grown less than a mile from our distillery means that it lends itself as a perfect pairing for this dish created by Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients

• 60ml Bramley & Gage Sweet Vermouth
• 450–500g Italian sausages (or simply use ready made)
• 2 x 15ml tbsp garlic oil
• 1tsp dried oregano
• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes, plus water to rinse 1/2 can
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper, to taste
• chopped fresh basil to serve (optional)

Method

1. Squeeze the sausage meat from the sausages and roll small cherry-tomato-sized meatballs out of it, putting them onto a clingfilm-lined baking tray as you go. Your final tally should be around 40.

2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan or flameproof casserole and add the meatballs, frying them until golden; as they become firmer, nudge them up in the pan to make room for the rest, if you can’t fit them all in at first.

3. When all the meatballs are in the pan and browned, add the oregano and stir about gently.

4. Turn up the heat wait a moment and then add the Sweet Vermouth, stir and then add the chopped tomatoes, then fill half of one of the empty cans with cold water and tip it into the other empty can, then into the pan. The can-to-can technique is just my way of making sure you swill out as much of the tomato residue as possible.

5. Pop in the bay leaves and let the pan come to a fast simmer, reduce the heat and leave to simmer like this, uncovered, for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly and the meatballs are cooked through. Check the sauce for seasoning, adding some salt and pepper, if you like.

6. During this time you can cook some wonderfully thick tagliatelle to go with the dish.

7. Once the meatballs are ready, you can eat them immediately or let them stand, off the heat but still on the stove, for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken up a bit on standing.