Having lived in Italy for 15 years, the method, and side dishes must be necessary because my husband is also Italian, so you have to adapt to their wishes. Otherwise, I make meatballs perfectly, so I have my own way of making them. In the original meatballs, there is no bacon, but I added it because it tastes even better and is much tastier! You don't have to add it if you don't want to. The sauce is fantastic and very delicious, it is best to add salt towards the end, I added very little, but there is no need. You can combine this meal with various types of dough such as gnocchi, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes or rice, which I chose with this dish because it is better and with fewer carbohydrates. You can prepare the meatballs mixture the day before, as I did, because it only tastes better because it picks up all the flavors and aromas from the spices. At the same time, it will be easier and faster for you to finish everything on time the next day. Follow recipe.
Ingredients: simple, total time: 70 min., 24 meatballs 6 serving
For Meatballs:
500 g minced meat/pork-beef
1 medium onion/ finely chopped
50 g smoked bacon/ diced and fried
2 cloves garlic/minced
2 Tbsp fresh parsley/finely chopped
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese/grated
3-4 flat Tbsp breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp of oil
For Frying Meatballs:
2 Tbsp Olive oil
flour for rolling meatballs / optional
For Sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic/ minced
1 Tbsp flour
250 ml beef broth/ or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp red-hot crushed pepper flakes
250 ml cooking cream
2 full Tbsp Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 tsp salt
80 g whole baby spinach-boiled/ or spinach-chopped
Preparation:
First, prepare all the ingredients as described above.
Cut the bacon into small cubes.
Finely chop the onion and pass the garlic through the garlic press.
Wash the spinach well and chop it into larger pieces. Boil in boiling water for about 1-2 minute and strain. If using frozen, there is no need for this step, just take them out earlier and cut them into pieces. Leave to cool.
Fry the bacon in a wok pan with little oil, until it is well browned on all sides. Place on kitchen paper to absorb excess fat.
Put the minced meat, fried bacon, onion, garlic in a deep bowl, and add the other ingredients from the description.
Mix all these ingredients well into a uniform mixture. Leave the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to stand. You can certainly do this the day before, because the longer the mixture sits, the better the aromas will be absorbed and it will be even tastier. I left the meat to stand for 24 hours.
Scoop out the mixture once with a full teaspoon, to make a form of balls.
When you form the balls, first crush the meat several times by hand, gather all the ends well, and only then roll them in flour. My meatballs are the size of a ping-pong ball.
Roll the finished meatballs in flour, then shape it with your hands a little more, that way you will remove the excess flour.
Fry them in a little oil until golden brown on all sides, then set them aside on kitchen paper. If you want, you can fry them directly in oil without flour. Place the fried meatballs on a kitchen towel.
I fried 8 pieces each in a wok pan, so I can turn them nicely, I shook the pan and with spatula corrected them to fit them more properly.
When I finished baking all the meatballs, I started preparing the side dish, I chose rice, and you can have boiled potatoes, pasta, mashed potatoes and even baked potatoes. I left the sauce for last.
Rice:
For the rice: I used 1 cup of rice (200 ml)previously washed several times under running cold water, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 can of 50 grams of mix peas, sweet corn, carrots and chickpeas, 480 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of dry spices and a little pepper. I didn't add salt because you don't need it, the sauce is already salty. I made it in the same pan where the meatballs were baked, only cleaned of the remaining onions, so the rice will pick up the smell and taste and will be even tastier. I transferred the rice to a smaller pan after cooking, so I would have freed up a larger pan for the sauce. This recipe will take you 25 minutes. See recipe of this rice here.
Sauce:
Add a cube of beef cubes to 250 ml of water in a small saucepan and cook until it boils.
Prepare all ingredients in 2 small plates.(In first flour and garlic, in another herbs with crushed hot pepper).
Melt butter in the same pan over moderate heat, add chopped garlic, stir for about a half minute. As soon as the garlic starts to smell, add 1 tablespoon of flour and mix quickly. Make sure that all the ingredients for this sauce are always close and at hand!
When the flour has acquired a brownish color, add the gradual broth, oregano, basil, red-hot crushed pepper. Let it simmer 15-20 minutes, not covered with reduce heat with occasionally stirring. The liquid must be reduced by almost half and denser.
During this time, chop boiled spinach into larger pieces. Since I used baby spinach, I did not cut it.
After the specified time, add the cooking cream. Cook for about 10 minutes non-covered and reduced heat, when the mixture has become thicker, add spinach, fried meatballs, stir the ingredients, control taste add little salt and pepper if necessary, cook for about 5 minutes, with stirring occasionally.
Immediately add the grated Parmesan cheese, stir well with sauce. Cook for another 4 minutes, until the sauce is well combined and thickened.
Serve warm with rice, pasta or baked potatoes, boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes.
Go 4 meatballs in each portion with a dressing sauce with the addition of side dishes and salad.
Buon appetito!
NOTE:
Keep the rest of the food covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If the sauce is thicker after a few days, add a little water and mix well.
Keep the rest of the food covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
If the sauce is thicker after a few days, add a cooking cream to taste, heat up on the stove, stir well cook until boiling, add pasta or boiled potatoes
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