Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

For the meatballs: soak bread in milk briefly. Combine with ground meat, egg and lemon zest and season with salt and pepper, knead well. Add enough breadcrumbs to make mixture is malleable and shape into small meatballs. 

For the tomato sauce: blanch tomatoes in hot water, rinse in cold water and peel. Quarter and remove seeds, dice. Strain tomato seeds through a sieve and collect all juice. Rinse and chop chile peppers. Peel shallot and garlic and chop finely. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute shallot, chile pepper and garlic until translucent. Add tomato paste and tomatoes with their juice and simmer for about 20 minutes or until creamy. Season with salt, sugar and pepper.

Bring broth to a boil and add meatballs, reduce heat and simmer meatballs for about 5 minutes or until done.