Meatballs rustico recipe
Super easy to make and incredibly versatile, these delicious meatballs can be combined with spaghetti to make classic spaghetti and meatballs, they can be crushed and used as a topping for pizzas, or they can be enjoyed in their purest form with a loaf of crusty bread.
If you don't have veal, you could make the meatballs with a 50:50 mixture of minced pork and beef (a total of 1kg), and you can use any variety of fresh tomato you like for the sauce.
Keep any surplus sauce in an airtight container in the fridge.
Ingredients
For the chunky tomato sauce- 1 splash olive oil
- 1 kg fresh tomatoes, diced
- 0.5 brown onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, diced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (concentrated purée)
- 800 g tinned chopped tomatoes
- 50 g basil, leaves picked and torn
- 400 g minced pork
- 300 g minced beef
- 300 g minced veal
- 4 slices white bread
- 100 ml milk
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 small brown onion, finely diced
- 30 g flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 50 g finely grated parmesan cheese
- 160 g fresh ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs, plus 1 yolk, lightly whisked
- 50 g basil, leaves picked and torn
Details
- Cuisine: Italian
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 90 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- First, make the sauce. Start by heating up a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan over a high heat until it starts to smoke. Add the fresh tomato and stir around the pan until they take on some colour and begin to break down.
- You need to get the pan very hot so that the natural sugars in the tomato come out the moment they make contact with the hot oil. Add the onion and a pinch of salt.
- Cook while stirring for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and tomato paste. Once the onion has been partially cooked, add the tinned tomato, reduce the heat to low and cook for at least 1 hour or until reduced by around half.
- Season with salt and lots of pepper, and add the torn basil leaves at the end. Finish with another good drizzle of olive oil.
- Now make the meatballs. In a mixing bowl, season the pork, beef and veal with salt and pepper. Soak the bread in the milk, then remove any excess milk by squeezing the bread in your hand. Tear up the bread into small pieces and add it to the meat.
- Add the garlic and onion, parsley, chilli flakes, nutmeg, parmesan and ricotta cheese. Finally, add the egg to the meat mixture and fold everything together with your hands. Roll 60g portions into balls and place them on a tray.
- Now pour two litres of the sauce into a heavy-based saucepan over low heat and bring it to a gentle simmer. Tear up the basil leaves and add them to the sauce. Gently introduce the meatballs into the liquid one at a time, starting from the outside of the pot and working your way into the centre.
- Cook at a gentle simmer for 16–18 minutes. Once cooked, these meatballs should be tender and falling apart.
This recipe was taken from Meatballs: The Ultimate Guide by Matteo Bruno (Murdoch Books, £14.99). Photography by Alicia Taylor.
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