Difficulty 2/5
I’ve been wanting to do meatballs for a while and for some reason they keep dodging me. Last time I went to the supermarket they didn’t have 5% fat beef and so I was like…. nope. And now I finally had everything I needed for the recipe and I did it! Also, my friend Diana from the blog Dolce Placard (check out the blog here: wwww.dolceplacard.com) came to visit and I had to make her a nice comforting lunch after she had some crazy weeks with NY and Paris Fashion Weeks.
Portions: 4
Ingredients:
For the vegetable stock:
– 100g white onion
– 100g carrot
– 100g celery
– 2 bayleaves
– 1.5L water
For the meatballs:
– 100g white onion
– 6 garlic tooth
– 500g 5% fat minced beef
– 100g breadcrumbs
– 1 egg
– salt and pepper to taste
– 4 tbsp olive oil
For the tomato sauce:
– 700ml stock from above
– 20ml olive oil
– 4 tbsp tomato paste
– 1kg tomatoes
– 2 tsp dried oregano
– 2 bayleaves
– salt and pepper to taste
For the mashed potatoes:
– 700g potatoes
– 40g unsalted butter
– 100ml milk
– salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
1. The first thing I did (although I don’t have pictures! Sorry 🙁 ) was to cook the potatoes. They go in the oven on baking paper at 200C until completely soft inside (try with a knife), it will take about 30min-1hr depending on the size of your potatoes. Then, I used a fork to mash them (I like them chunky, if you like it smooth, use a ricer or fine sieve). Then add the butter while it’s still warm, cut in squares so it melts, and give it a mix. Then the milk, salt and pepper.
2. Cut up the vegetables for the stock and put them in the cold water with the bayleaf and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 30min, then pass through a sieve.
3. Cut the tomatoes in 4 lengthwise and remove the centre, the seeds and the top white part. Then cut these petals really small.
4. Cut the onion for both the sauce and the meatballs and cook them in olive oil until they are very translucent and soft so they’re not strong to taste. Then add the garlic (also for both recipes) which I grated finely and cook for a while on low heat. Once it’s all cooked, separate half of it for the meatballs and let it cool down.
5. Add the tomato paste to the pan and let it cook for a minute with the garlic and onion.
6. Add the tomato and mix until it starts to release water.
7. Put the stock and let it cook on low heat until it’s almost consumed entirely. This will take about 30min.
8. Once the onion and garlic have cooled down, mix it with all the other ingredients using your hand.
9. Make balls and fry them in olive oil on med heat and seal on all sides.
10. Let them finish cooking in the tomato sauce for about 5min.
And there you have it! A godly lunch or dinner. It’s very comforting and yummy, I loved it! The meatballs are delicious and not dry at all, and the sauce with the mashed potatoes is ¡WOW! so yummy. Comment below what you think 🙂
