Dump the artichoke hearts into a colander placed in the sink and let the water drain out while you brown the meatballs. (I turned each artichoke heart so the open side was down and the maximum amount of water could drain out).

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray a casserole dish (9″ x 13″ or close to that size) with non-stick spray.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the meatballs, and cook over medium-high heat, turning a few times, or until all the meatballs are nicely browned. (Browning the meatballs is probably optional, but we thought it added flavor. You may need to brown them in two batches if you don’t have a large enough frying pan.)

Put the browned meatballs in the bottom of the casserole dish.

Wipe artichoke hearts dry with paper towels and cut each one into half or fourths, depending on how big they are.

Put the artichoke hearts over the meatballs in the casserole dish.

You can simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes to cook off some of the water if you want to; we made this both ways and although when we didn’t simmer the sauce there was a tiny bit of water in the bottom, we felt it wasn’t worth the extra step of reducing the sauce.

Pour the sauce over the artichokes and meatballs.

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.

Bake 30-40 minutes, or until the dish is bubbling hot and the cheese is nicely browned.

Serve hot.

I haven’t tried freezing this, but it did keep in the fridge for several days and and reheated well.