Elliot's favourite pasta: Meatballs and fettucine
I don't think we have made this pasta for several months and Elliot began demanding its return about a week ago. I first tried this meal in Toronto many years ago and loved it so much it replaced spaghetti bolognaise as one of our staple meals. I tend to find with bolognaise that the meal itself is actually quite dry despite there being a sauce. With meatballs however, the meat itself is moist and combined with the luscious sauce means that I have no concerns for a dry pasta dish.
The night we prepared this meal, we used a different meat to the ones we usually use. We prefer to use veal and pork mince however we prepared this one with beef, it was a pleasant change.
Our meatballs are very simply prepared, finely chopped italian parsley, a couple of cloves of finely crushed garlic, the finely grated rind of one lemon, some grated Parmesan, two slices of bread (which have been dampened with water and squeezed) one egg, salt and pepper, all mixed together and left in the fridge for several hours. Later, roll the meatball mixture into balls and saute in a frying pan till browned all over. It is not necessary to cook throughout as the meatballs can be finished in the tomato sauce.
For the sauce, finely dice one and a half brown onions and saute with 2 finely crushed pieces of garlic and finely diced 3 cm piece of ginger add one tin of tomatoes and one tin of tomato puree. Add some dried basil, thyme and rosemary and some freshly cracked pepper and salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar and a splash of red wine. Simmer gently for 20 minutes and then add the meatballs.
Serve meatballs with fettucine or spaghetti and freshly grated Parmesan.
3 comments:
just wondering, your meatballs recipe asked for 2 slices of bread that was to be dampened with water and squeezed, does that replace the bread crumbs that most recipes ask for? also do i squeeze the bread completely dry or leave a bit of moisture in it? thanks!:)
Hi Kairui - come to think of it this way of adding the bread component of the meatballs (which your right is a substitute for breadcrumbs) harks back to my mother's traditions when making meatballs.
When I do it, I usually briefly run the bread under a tap a couple of seconds then squeeze most of the water from the bread- it is still fairly damp.
Love your blog :) Just wanted to ask with regards to the recipe for the meatballs. Roughly how much mince would you use? And when doing veal & pork would it be roughly half and half?
Thanks!
Keep up the good work!
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