Founder of The Meatball & Wine Bar, Matteo Bruno, shares his special recipe for meatballs.
This easy recipe for an authentic Italian meatball is perfect for spoiling friends and family. The melt in the mouth meatballs are stuffed with oozy mozzarella and poached in a rich red tomato sauce.
Keep things simple by pairing with a fresh green leaf and fennel salad and chunk of crunchy bread.
Matteo Bruno says: ‘These classic Italian flavours, simple ingredients and quality Australian beef mince make the most tender, fall-apart meatballs. The addition of mozzarella takes this dish to the next level and, as far as I’m concerned, makes these the Greatest meatballs out there!’
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 80 minutes
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
Meatballs
- 1kg beef mince (makes around 15 meatballs)
- 4 slices of white bread
- 100ml milk
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 small brown onion, finely diced
- 1 bunch of parsley, chopped
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 50g Parmesan cheese, grated
- 160g fresh ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- 150g mozzarella, cut into 1.5cm cubes
Red sauce
- Olive oil
- 12 small vine tomatoes, sliced in half
- Half a small brown onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, diced
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 1.5 litres of passata
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- Bunch of basil leaves, picked and torn
METHOD
- For the meatballs – season the beef mince in a large bowl with two generous pinches of salt and pepper. Soak the bread slices in milk until fully absorbed then remove any excess milk by squeezing the bread with your hands. Tear into small pieces and add to the mince.
- Add the onion, garlic, chilli, parsley, nutmeg, Parmesan and ricotta cheese to the mince. Add the eggs and fold everything together with your hands.
- Roll generous size meatballs, then using your thumb, make an imprint into the meatball and place the mozzarella cube inside making sure to encase the mozzarella completely. The mixture should make around 15 meatballs.
Set aside in the fridge until ready to eat.