Polpette carote e porri

 

 

Another teaser from the meatballs series, this time meatballs with carrots and leeks. They have a super crunchy cereal bread crust but are extra soft inside. Some hearty spices that include cumin make them a great comfort food. An apple and leek salad adds to the zestiness of the dish.

Boules de Picolat

 

Boules de Picolat or Catalan meatballs - despite their name, they are actually a dish tipical of the southern French region of Roussillon bordering with Spain. A mixture of beef and pork, tipically served with white beans in a spicy tomato sauce, but mine are served with chickpeas instead. I added also one more secret ingredient into the meatballs themselves to make them unlike any other Catalan meatballs ;)

Here I give you just a teaser, since I decided to save my meatball recipes for a special collection that I'm putting together.

    *Pictures courtesy of KD.

Cheesy meatballs in a dill sauce

Meatballs in a dill sauce are typical of Polish cuisine. Unfortunately, in my mind they took place of when-you're-sick food that is rather bland in taste, especially with boiled meatballs. Thus, to disenchant them, I experimented a bit with the flavours to make them more distinct, but still delicate. Instead of boiling the meatballs I baked them (no oil used so it's still on the healthy side) and added fennel and blue cheese inside. Also, the dill sauce, which in my house was a poor man's sauce based on water, is done using stock and complemented with a pinch od mustard powder and two types of pepper. The result was very pleasing, I'm definitely making them again soon!

You'll need:
For the meatballs:
350gr mince pork
1 egg
breadcrumbs
blue cheese (or gorgonzola piccante)
fennel seeds
white pepper
black pepper
salt

For the sauce:
1/4 glass vegetable stock
3 spoons of dense sour cream
dill
1 spoon flour
English mustard powder (optional)
White pepper
Black pepper

1. Crumble the cheese and mix the ingredients for the meatballs. Form meatballs and put them in an open oven dish. Put in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for around 20-30 minutes until the meatballs turn golden brown on the outside.

2. To prepare the sauce, warm up the stock in a small pot. Mix the flour with the cream and slowly transfer into simmering broth, stirring all the time so as to avoid lumps forming up. Wait until it denses up and season with pepper and mustard. Add dill, et voila!

 Buon appetito!

Gooseberry meatballs

They might resemble Swedish ikea meatballs, but they are so much more than that. Inspired by a Hairy Bikers recipe, these meatballs differ in their key ingredient - goosberry jam (prepared by my dad with gooseberries straight from our garden).

You'll need:
400gr pork mince
1 tea spoon of sour cream
freshly ground allspice
nutmeg
1 egg
75gr breadcrumbs
2 anchoives (finely chopped or a bit of anchoives paste) (optional)
medium golden onion
one clove of garlic
salt & pepper
40gr butter
two spoons of flour
50ml white wine
150 ml bouillion (I used a ready made wild bouillion, which is worked very well for the intensity of flavour)
3 spoons of gooseberry jam
dill for decoration

1. Start off by finely chopping the onion and frying it on a pan. Towards the end, add finely chopped garlic and fry for another 30 seconds before putting aside to cool down.
2. To prepare the meatballs mix the meat with one egg, adding nutmeg (be careful it's very strong if freshly grated), ground allspice, salt & pepper, breadcrumbs, anchoives and a tea spoon of sour cream. Add fried onion and garlic. Mix everything together and then start forming meatballs, the size roughly of a golf ball.
3. Put the meatballs in an open oven dish and bake for around 20 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees. They will be ready when they start to turn beautifully golden brown on the outside.
4. In the meantime prepare the sauce. Start off by melting butter in a pot. Then add the flour, allow it to brown a little, and then add white wine, stirring all the time, not allowing lumps to form. Then proceed to adding the bouillion, still stirring. Finally, add gooseberry jam and stir. If the sauce turns too dense, add more bouillion to loosen it up.
5. Remove the meatballs from the oven, pour over the sauce, decorate the dish with fresh dill, et voila!

 Buon appetito!

When Italy met India...

...or coriander mini polpettone in creamy curry sauce served with gralic and coriander naan bread.

I should probably start with a disclaimer: this is not a recipe for an Indian meatloaf (though it actually sounds like a good idea for the future).

You'll need:
around 300g of minced pork
1 egg
chili powder
ground coriander
leaf coriander
pepper and salt
breadcrumbs (optional)

For the sauce:
150/200g creme freche
medium curry powder
garam masala
chili
leaf coriander
ground coriander
turmeric (optional) (use if you want a super yellow effect)

1. Mix the mince and the spices, add the egg. If the mixture is too loose to form mini balls, add some  breadcrumbs.
2. Form small balls, no more than 3cm in diameter.
3. Warm the oil on a grill pan.
4. Fry your mini polpettones.
5. Take a second pan, add your cream and mix it with the scpices. Remember not to overheat the sauce, as it will loose the nice creamy consistency if you do.
6. Prepare your naan (today I was short of time and so used a ready-made one, but I will explore the joy of proper naan making at some point, I promise)

et voila! Super tasty dinner in less than 15 minutes. If you're very hungry you can also serve it with rice, but for me it's already very filling as it is.

Bon appétit!