Rick Stein served up a tasty Catalan meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce on Rick Stein’s Secret France.

The ingredients for the meatballs are: 400g beef mince, 400g pork mince, 1 free-range egg, beaten, 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated, small handful fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp piment d’Espelette or pimentón, 2–3 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for rolling, 3 tbsp olive oil and salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the spicy tomato sauce: 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 onion, finely chopped, 100g unsmoked bacon lardons or cubes of cooked ham, 1 tsp piment d’Espelette or pimentón, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 6 tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped, 1 tbsp tomato purée, 150g pitted green olives, drained, 400g tin haricot beans, drained and rinsed, salt and freshly ground black pepper and freshly cooked rice, to serve (optional).

See Rick’s recipes in his book titled: Rick Stein’s Secret France available from Amazon now.