Dressing up (or down) your meatballs

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This article was published 12/10/2016 (3582 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Meatballs are the little black dresses of the culinary world.

You can dress them up for dinner with a velvet robe of sour cream and wild mushroom gravy. They can be daytime simple with a jacket of roasted tomato marinara, trimmed with fresh asiago cheese, and tucked into a crusty roll. Or they can be cocktail party sweet-and-spicy, glistening with a glaze of pineapple juice, sriracha sauce and sugar.

They also are comparatively inexpensive; can be made ahead then sauced later; require little attention once prepared; often can be retrofitted on Day 2 for a second go-round; and perform as well at a family dinner, a Sunday tailgate with friends, or a flavours-of-the-world themed get-together. For all this and perhaps more, the ubiquitous meatball is, well, ubiquitous.

And it’s trendy, too.

Chicago-based Technomic, a leading food research and consulting firm, describes meatballs as a 2016 food trend that’s part of a national movement involving the “elevation of peasant fare” to new heights. “Meatballs… are proliferating — traditional, ethnic or nouveau.”

Whether fashioned of pork, beef, chicken or no meat at all (as in mushrooms/lentils/cheese), the essential meatball ingredients are comparatively inexpensive. That allows for the spending of a little more dough on some of the spices that are needed to round out a recipe for the likes of Albondigas en Salsa de Limon. Translated, it’s meatballs in lemon sauce. The sauce requires a pinch of pricey saffron threads.

A delicious overture into Spanish cuisine, this pork and veal meatball is cooked in a richly viscous egg yolk/lemon/saffron sauce enhanced with mushrooms. The recipe for Albondigas en Salsa de Limon is featured in Penelope Casas’s One Pot Spanish tome, published in 2009 by Sellers Publishing. Lemon, both in the meatballs and the sauce, makes a nice taste counterpoint to the delicious velvet of fat in the meat and egg yolk. Casa suggests a sidecar of boiled new potatoes. Rice also would do well especially if the sauce ingredients were doubled and the meatballs were situated atop of the rice.

Smacking of pan-Asian is an exceptionally simple and yummy recipe for cocktail meatballs in the recently published Ultimate Appetizer Ideabook, 225 Simple, All-Occasion Recipes by Kiera and Cole Stipovich from Chronicle Books. The recipe pairs a delicate ground lamb ball with a spicy-sweet glaze of chili-pepper jelly that can be made for pennies in about 10 minutes. They are like potato chips: you can’t eat just one.

It’s hard to think of meatballs without thinking of tomato sauce. A 2015 publication by the editors of Saveur, entitled Saveur: Italian Comfort Food, offers a spin on the pairing that calls for a very spicy meatball cooked in an unusually simple and spice-free red sauce. Called Classic Meatballs, they feature ricotta, pork fat and prosciutto with a half-dozen spices, all adding up to a dish that need not sit atop pasta to stand as an entrée.

These meatballs are more involved than the meatballs I make to serve with my spaghetti. And a couple of ingredients required special effort (my butcher had to trim a slab of pork fat for me), but they are worth the extra effort if you want to dial up Italian Night a notch.

Classic Meatballs

I used veal in this recipe with ground pork and pork fat instead of unsmoked bacon. I also bumped up the heat with a few extra chili flakes. I like my tomato sauce a bit more flavoured: I added a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt.

280 g (10 oz) ground veal

280 g (10 oz) ground pork shoulder

55 g (2 oz) finely chopped pork fat or unsmoked bacon

55 g (2 oz) prosciutto, finely chopped

310 ml (11/4 cups) loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped, plus more to garnish

10 ml (2 tsp) dried oregano

7.5 ml (11/2 tsp) fennel seeds

5 ml (1 tsp) chili flakes

2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) ground cumin

1 ml (1/4 tsp) ground allspice

7 slices white bread, finely ground in a food processor

Kosher salt (divided) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

160 ml (2/3 cup) ricotta, drained in a sieve for two hours

30 ml (2 tbsp) milk

3 eggs, lightly beaten

90 ml (6 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing

60 ml (1/4 cup) red wine

1 L (4 cups) canned tomato purée

250 ml (1 cup) beef or veal stock

5 ml (1 tsp) sugar

5 ml (1 tsp) salt

Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish

Combine all meats, herbs, spices, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together ricotta, milk and eggs then add to meat mixture, gently. Chill for an hour.

Heat oven to 150 C (300 F). Grease two rimmed baking sheets with oil and set aside. Portion mixture and roll into balls. Transfer to baking sheets.

Heat 45 ml (3 tbsp) oil in high-sided, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the meatballs; cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes.

Transfer meatballs to a plate and wipe out skillet. Repeat with remaining oil and meatballs.

Return reserved meatballs to skillet along with any juices from the plate. Add wine, increase heat to high, and cook for two minutes.

Stir in tomato purée, stock, sugar and salt, bring to a boil and tightly cover skillet.

Transfer to oven and bake until meatballs are tender and have absorbed some sauce, about 11/2 hours.

To serve, transfer meatballs to a platter and spoon sauce over. Sprinkle with Parmigiano and parsley.

— Adapted from Saveur Italian Comfort Food by The Editors of Saveur. (Weldon Owen Inc.; 2015)

Albondigas en Salsade Limon (Meatballs in Lemon Sauce)

For meatballs

90 ml (6 tbsp) dry breadcrumbs

60 ml (1/4 cup) milk

340 g (3/4 lb) ground veal

340 g (3/4 lb) ground pork

2 eggs

45 ml (3 tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice

30 ml (2 tbsp) minced parsley

30 ml (2 tbsp) finely chopped prosciutto

22.5 ml (11/2 tbsp) minced fresh thyme leaves or 4 ml (3/4 tsp) dried thyme

2 cloves garlic, minced

7.5 ml (11/2 tsp) kosher or sea salt

2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) freshly ground pepper

All-purpose flour for dusting

30 ml (2 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil

60 ml (1/4 cup) finely chopped Mayan onion

180 ml (3/4 cup) chicken broth

45 ml (3 tbsp) dry white wine

45 ml (3 tbsp) minced parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

Pinch of crumbled saffron threads

Kosher or sea salt

110 g (4 oz) mushrooms, brushed clean, stems trimmed, and caps halved or quartered

45 ml (3 tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 egg yolks

Chicken broth or water, as needed

To prepare meatballs, combine breadcrumbs withmilk in a large bowl. Gently mix in ground veal and pork, eggs, lemon juice, parsley, prosciutto, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Shape into meatballs and dust with flour.

To prepare sauce, heat oil in a shallow flameproof casserole over medium-high heat, and sauté meatballs until brown on all sides.

Add onion and sauté until softened. Stir in broth and wine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and simmer for 40minutes.

Mash 30 ml (2 tbs) parsley, garlic, saffron and a pinch of salt to a paste in amortar, or process in amini food processor until finely minced.

Transfer meatballs to a warmplate and keep warm. Strain sauce through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids with the back of ametal soup ladle to extract as much liquid as possible. Return sauce to the casserole and add mushrooms, mortar mixture and lemon juice.

Whisk egg yolks with a little hot sauce from the casserole in a small bowl, then add back to the casserole. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened (do not boil). If the sauce seems too thick, add a little broth or water. (Mine needed no additional liquid.) Return meatballs to the sauce and simmer for 1minute. Serve straight from the casserole, sprinkledwith remaining parsley.

— FromOne Pot Spanish by Penelope Casas (Sellers Publishing; 2009)

Chili-Pepper Jelly-Glazed Lamb Meatballs

These little gems are like potato chips; you can’t stop with one. I doubled the sauce recipe because I found it to be so deliciously spicy yet sweet.

450 g (1 lb) ground lamb

30 ml (2 tbsp) minced onion

15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

7.5ml (1 1 /2 tsp) finely chopped fresh mint leaves

180ml (3 /4 cup) fresh breadcrumbs

1 clove garlic, minced

15 ml (1 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce

15 ml (1 tbsp) ketchup

5ml (1 tsp) smoked paprika

2.5ml (1 /2 tsp) kosher salt

1ml (1 /4 tsp) freshly ground black pepper

1 lightly beaten egg

Mix all ingredients lightly, except egg. When combined, add egg andmix again. Shape into balls. Place on baking sheet, linedwith parchment paper or foil. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about 30minutes.

Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Bake meatballs for 20 to 25 minutes or until internal temperature is 75 C (165 F). Immediately add cooked meatballs to 1/2 recipe Chili-Pepper Jelly Glaze in a saucepan (I made a full recipe and used it all) and simmer uncovered over lowheat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring gently as needed until the meatballs are nicely glazed.

Chili-Pepper Jelly Glaze

80 ml (1/3 cup) ketchup

60 ml (1/4 cup) water

45 ml (3 tbsp) pepper jelly

10 ml (2 tsp) olive oil

10 ml (2 tsp) Worcestershire sauce

5ml (1 tsp) chili powder

5ml (1 tsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a medium saucepan over lowheat, combine all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the flavours have blended.

Use right away or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to five days.

— FromThe Ultimate Appetizer Ideabook by Kiera and Cole Stipovich (Chronicle Books; 2016) — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette