Meatballs, who doesn’t like them ! We all grew up eating them, your mother or grandmother would prepare them for you. Each with their own recipe, sometimes recipes that were handed down for generations.
The first time the word meatball was ever mentioned, we have to go way back, up to the 15th century ! When Maestro Martino mentioned them for the first time in “ De Arte conquinaria “ The first modern cookery book .Those where prepared with pulp of white veal meat.
They come in all sorts, fried, breaded in eggs and breadcrumbs, prepared with row meat or cooked meat before making the meatballs.
There are several regional recipes. The “Mondeghelli “ from Milano, made with leftovers of boiled meat, strictly fried in butter. In Piedmont you will find them “ in carpione “, veal meatballs with vinegar and onions. In Emilia, a mix of beef, pork, mortadella and cheese. But today I am preparing my recipe of meatballs in tomato sauce, they are absolutely irresistible !
Ingredients.
- 500g of minced veal
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper
- Half a teaspoon of nutmeg
- 3 to 4 tbsp of breadcrumbs
- Some butter and a splash of EVO
- Tomato sauce
Put the meat in a bowl, add all the ingredients in the bowl and mix everything very well together. Now you can form little balls ( try to make them all the same size )
Put the butter and the oil in a pan and brown the meatballs in the butter and oil.
Now you add them in the tomato sauce ( I still had some fresh tomato sauce in my freezer ) let them simmer in the sauce for approximately 30 /35 minutes.
Done !
Buon appetito.
Zia Tata’s kitchen 