While there are a wide variety of cuisines and cultures that have their own take on the “meatball”, the one most commonly referred to is the Italian Meatball, which uses a mixture of beef and pork for that irresistible taste.
Different flavour combinations mixed with the meat, along with the usual combining ingredients of breadcrumbs and egg yolk, make for the perfect meatball.
In the following recipe, you can use a fresh bread panade instead of breadcrumbs to add extra moisture. Just add your 2 slices of fresh bread to a bowl, and lightly soak in buttermilk, mashing it with a spoon, or your fingers, and substitute this when it calls for breadcrumbs in the recipe.
Ingredients
1 small onion
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
Olive oil
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
2 slices stale bread
250g lean minced beef
250g lean minced pork
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 lemon
1 large free-range egg yolk
Sage and rosemary
For the Sauce
Peel and finely chop 1 small onion. Place in a pan over a low heat with a splash of olive oil, cover and cook until very soft. Increase the heat, and add the chilli, then pour in the tinned tomatoes and a wineglass amount of water. Season lightly and cook on low-medium heat for 30 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes as they cook.
For the Meatballs
Blitz the stale bread, with the crusts removed, in a food processor. Place in a large bowl with the two types of meat. Separate and add the egg yolk to the bowl, along with the rosemary and sage. Finely grate in the lemon zest and the nutmeg, then combine all of the ingredients together by hand.
Tip: In order to make meatballs wet your hands before combining and rolling meatballs to stop the meat sticking to them. Season the mixture and shape into little balls – roughly the size of gobstoppers.
Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a hot pan. Brown the meatballs all over, but be careful not to break them up. Add them to the pan with the tomato sauce, stir carefully, cover, and braise gently for 45 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve with rice, pasta, or crusty bread.