My Mum’s Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
70 gr of crustless stale bread soaked in 150 ml of milk
300 gr of beef mince
200 gr of pork and fennel sausage, removed from the casing
1 egg
40 gr of grated parmigiano
2-3 tablespoons of chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper for seasoning
For the Sauce:
1 small brown onion of French shallot, finely chopped
1/4 of a red capsicum, in one piece
150 ml of red wine
800 ml of passata
400 ml of water
a few parsley leaves
a few celery leaves plus some to add to the finished dish, if liked
50 ml of extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper for seasoning
Click on the video below to watch the full recipe
Method
Soak the bread in milk in a large mixing bowl for 20 minutes, then use your hands to mash it into a pulp. Add mince, sausage meat, egg, cheese, parsley, nutmeg, lemon rind and a little salt and pepper and mix well to create an even paste.
Heat up the oil in a large heavy based pan, shape mandarin sized meatballs and fry them off (in batches, if needed) to brown them on both sides. Add the chopped onion (or French shallot) and cook it together with the meatballs for 1-2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with wine and cook out the alcohol (2-3 minutes). Add passata , water, celery and parsley leaves, capsicum quarter and pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook, covered, for 2-3 hours. Taste for salt and adjust to your liking. Discard the exhausted celery and parsley leaves and capsicum.
Serve as is with crusty bread and greens.