This dish is cheap, easy to make and very attractive. You have to try it!
ingredients for about 8 large pieces (cost about 5 € pp)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- black pepper
- 250 g minced beef meat
- 250 g minced pork meat
- 1 or 2 slices of pancetta or first quality bacon
- 1 egg
- 1 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon aniseed
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 40 g parmesan cheese
- 4-5 tbsp vegetable stock or milk
- EV sunflower oil for frying
- 6 small potatoes
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 medium onion
- 200 ml vegetable stock
- fresh rosemary
- EV olive oil
Perfect meatballs require very fresh ingredients, humidity and just a light mixing because myosin, one of meat’ s proteins, turns them to hard and not pleasant, if overkneaded. The aromatics such as the onion must be already cooked and very soft, the meat must be relatively fatty and the whole preparation must be enforced with umami bombs such as pancetta and parmesan cheese.
So, we first of all cut the onion very finely and we gently fry it till tender. 2 minutes before end we add the garlic, minced. We wait the aromatics to cool and meanwhile we beat the egg, we grind the spices and the parmesan and we mince the pancetta.
We mix all ingredients, without overkneading them. We form 8 large meatballs and we put them in the fridge for about an hour, better more to help them develop their aroma.
Meanwhile we peel the carrots, the medium onion and the potatoes. We cut the carrots in pieces and the potatoes in halves. We steam them, each one separated till tender. Some may ask why to steam and not to boil them. My answer is: Look at them. Aren’t they beautiful? That’s a result of steaming procedure which helps us retain the vegetables colours.
In a wok we preheat about 500 ml EV sunflower oil to 180 Celsius degrees
So, we fry the meatballs in batches of 4 till crispy and lightly brown, just look at the photos to understand.
Meanwhile, we add some olive oil in a skillet, we add the steamed vegetables and the stock, maybe some salt and pepper and we reduce the stock to half.
We put two large meatballs on each dish, the veggies and the light and transparent “sauce”.
