Don't Make Boring Meatballs. Try 2 Recipes for a Creative Take on an Italian Classic
By Heather John
It's been said that meatballs are a dish of scarcity, so it makes sense that in the wake of economic chaos, they've become one of the defining dishes of this era. Bon Appetit magazine declared the humble meatball the "dish of the year" at the height of the recession in 2010. In New York, hipsters line up for hours outside The Meatball Shop on the Lower East Side for meatball heroes and sliders, while Donatella Arpaia is staging a street cart, Donatella's Meatball Wagon, in front of her Mia Dona restaurant in Midtown. Coast to coast, meatballs are rolling out in numbers.
Related: A whole cookbook of meatball tips and recipes.
Bon Appetit restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton adds that a good meatball is genetic. "If you're an Italian-American and your nonna made meatballs, you already know the best meatballs in the world and there's nothing anyone can say to you to persuade you otherwise.
Related: Check out how the Greeks do meatballs.
That's the way it should be," Knowlton says. "For the rest of us a good meatball should be defined by its simplicity, its frugality, its approachability. It's not some over-thought, overwrought dish for kings -- it's a dish for the people, the original head-to-tail dish, if you will, that utilizes and magnifies meat scrapes essentially becoming greater than the sum of its part -- as most great dishes do."
Related: Consider meatless meatballs.
Whatever you do, don't put together a batch of boring meatballs with just ground beef. You're cheating yourself out of a richness of flavor that even the simplest cucina povera dish deserves. Aim for a mix of meats -- consider the traditional beef, veal and pork combo -- or at least experiment with some spices and ground chicken.
Nonna Pacello's Sauce With Short Ribs and Meatballs
My great-grandmother hailed from Napoli, which is why there is an unexpected regional ingredient in both the sauce and meatballs -- finely chopped green bell pepper.
Ingredients
Olive oil
4-5 beef short ribs, salt & peppered
2-3 sweet onions, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2-3 bay leaves
28-ounce can San Marzano whole tomatoes
28-ounce can San Marzano crushed tomatoes
2 28-ounce cans tomato puree
¾ cup tomato paste
Fresh oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil
Dash of cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
6-8 garlic cloves, pressed
½ cup red wine
⅔ pound each of ground sirloin, pork, veal
1-2 eggs
½- ¾ cup unseasoned bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Seasoning salt (or a dash each of dried thyme, ground mustard, curry powder, paprika and celery seed)
Directions
For the sauce:
1. Cover bottom of a large pan with olive oil and heat on high for 3 minutes.
2. Brown short ribs.
3. Add the remaining ¾ each of chopped onion and bell pepper.
4. Saute over medium heat until tender.
5. Add bay leaves, tomatoes, herbs, cinnamon, sugar, garlic, wine.
6. Add meatballs (recipe to follow). Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.
For the meatballs:
1. Mix ground sirloin, pork, veal with ¼ of the onion and green bell pepper, eggs, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and seasoning salt. Roll into golf-ball-sized balls and drop into sauce. This will make a lot of meatballs -- about 15.
2. Serve over bucatini, and sprinkle with marjoram and parm. Leftovers are great baked with rigatoni and mozzarella.
Chicken Balls in Gravy With Pistachios and Apricots
(courtesy of Zester Daily contributor Clifford A. Wright)
Serves 4
Ingredients
2½ cups chopped onions
2 large garlic cloves, 1 chopped, 1 mashed in a mortar
one 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, half chopped, half mashed in a mortar
¼ cup fresh cilantro (coriander leaf)
10 whole blanched almonds, ground in a spice mill
1 large egg
2 thick slices (about 2½ ounces) French or Italian bread, crust removed, broken up
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground chicken
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 cup chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons sour cream or whole plain yogurt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek powder (optional)
10 dried apricots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon pistachios
1½ cups water
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
Directions
1. Place 1¼ cups of onion, the chopped garlic clove and the chopped ginger in a food processor and pulse until very fine. Add the cilantro, almonds, egg, bread, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and process again until very fine. Add the chicken and process until everything is well blended. Make 25 chicken balls about the size of a small lime using wet hands so the mixture does not stick.
2. In a large nonstick pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat then cook the meatballs in one layer, shaking the pan and turning once or twice, until they turn color on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
3. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan and heat over medium-high heat then add the cumin seeds and shake the pan, then add the mashed garlic and grated ginger and cook for about 15 seconds.
4. Add the remaining onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the sour cream and cook 3 minutes while stirring.
6. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and add the cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, turmeric, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garam masala, ground fenugreek, apricots, pistachios, and water and bring to a boil over high heat.
7. Add the chicken balls, reduce the heat to low and cook until chicken balls are firm and cooked through, about 15 minutes.
8. Add the peas and cook, stirring carefully, for 10 minutes. Serve hot.
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