• Dice the bread and soak in the milk.
• Remove the skin from the salsiccia and place the sausage meat in a bowl.
• Now add the minced beef, the squeezed out bread, the egg, the tomato purée and all the spices to the bowl. Mix the mixture well and knead.
• Place the bowl in the fridge for 3 hours (the longer the better) to infuse.
• Shape the mixture into polpette, i.e. balls the size of a table tennis ball, and dredge in flour.
• Heat the olive oil in a hot pan and fry the polpette until crispy on all sides.

For the tomato sauce

• While the polpette mixture is resting, dice the onion and garlic and then sauté slowly in plenty of olive oil in a large pan.
• When the garlic and onions are translucent, add the passata to the mixture. Then season with salt and pepper.
• Simmer the sauce over a low heat until it has reduced by half. Stir occasionally.
• Now add the polpette, thyme and basil and simmer over a low heat with the lid on for 10 minutes

For the spaghetti

• When the sauce is almost ready, add salt to the water and bring to the boil. Now cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions.