Overview

This is a simple recipe from the Independent many years ago, unfortunately its attribution is lost and neither the Wayback machine nor the Independent appear to list it.

This sauce can be used to braise chicken, veal or pork dishes. Kids will love it dished up with pasta or rice. The meatballs will keep well in the freezer in the sauce, or freeze them raw, separately from the sauce, for a rainy day. Instead of pork you could use a mixture of beef and veal.

See References for the sources.

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 1tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • 1tbsp vegetable oil plus extra for frying
  • 400g minced pork with about 10-15 per cent fat
  • 50g fresh white breadcrumbs
  • A good pinch of ground cumin
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Flour for dusting

Sauce

  • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 30g butter
  • 2tsp flour
  • 1 small glass of red wine
  • 1tbsp tomato purée
  • 400g canned chopped tomatoes or the equivalent fresh, skinned, seeded and chopped
  • 500ml beef or chicken stock (a good quality cube will do)

Optional

  • Cheese: parmesan/pecorino/mozarella/scamorza/whatevs
  • Herbs: basil/oregano/sage
  • Carbs: pasta/bread/dealer’s choice

Method

Gently cook the onions, garlic and thyme in a little of the vegetable oil until soft. Put to one side and cool down. Mix the minced pork, breadcrumbs and cooked onions together with the cumin then season well with salt and pepper. Test the seasoning by rolling a little flat cake of the mixture and gently frying it in oil for a minute or so on each side, cool down, taste and season more if necessary. Roll the mixture into squash-ball sized pieces and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes to set.

To make the sauce, gently cook the onions and garlic in the butter until soft, add the flour, stir well then add the tomato purée and the tomatoes. Slowly add the red wine and stock, bring to the boil, lightly season with salt and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.

Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan, lightly dust the meatballs with flour and fry a few at a time until golden. Take out and drain on kitchen towel to remove excess fat.

Add the meatballs to the sauce – you may need to transfer everything into a larger pan. Cover the pan and simmer gently for about 30-40 minutes, giving the sauce the occasional skim. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve the meatballs with Parmesan polenta (follow the instructions for making soft polenta on the packet and stir in Parmesan at the end), mashed potato or spaghetti.

Notes

You can swap pork for beef, or a mixture of pork and beef. Sausages smooshed out of their cases can also make a decent substitute but most will already have a rusk or similar filling so forgo the breadcrumbs.

For very tender meatballs nowadays I’d probably make a panade before adding the bread to the mixture.

For the sauce, again an option would be the Marcella Hazan tomato sauce which is probably easier and more delicious.

Any pasta works, I like papardelle, tagliatelle or bucatini.

Basil stalks tied in a bouquet garni and dropped into the sauce as it bubbles are a solid addition. The leaves can either be finely chiffonaded (?) or torn into the meatball mix or torn and sprinkled over the sauce to finish.

I like to chuck a big tablespoon of oregano in to either the sauce or the meatball mixture too. Likewise sage (used lightly) can be delicious.

Cheese. Everything’s better with cheese, so parmesan, pecorino, or a local alternative are always a beneficial addition. Again, either finely microplanned and added to the meatball mixture, or finely grated and sprinkled over the dish at serving time. Or both.

References