Ray's meatballs, inspired by Jamie Oliver
Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 2:45PM 
I am in the camp of people who find Jamie Oliver a rather annoying personality (the pseudo-geezer thing), but who appreciate what he has done for food in Britain. I like his early books (I only got as far as the first two), but I sit firmly with the Italians when it comes to 'Jamie's Italy'. Basically, if Italy is, as he says, his biggest inspiration ("I should have been Italian"), then why can't he respect the time-honoured recipes developed over generations instead of coming in and throwing all manner of herbs and spices into dishes that traditionally would have been made up of a few ingredients, cooked simply and allowed to shine. In the words of Angela Hartnett,
Nonna taught me to understand what great Italian cooking is all about: start with the very best raw ingredients and do very little to them; just let them speak for themselves, and make the best of their natural flavours and textures.
I have heard many an irate Italian complain about Jamie's habit of taking a perfectly good Italian recipe and chucking in a bit of this and a bit of that, making it an entirely new dish in their view, but still calling it by the same name.
I was also until quite recently in the camp of people who think meatballs are boring, would never dream of making them at home and who would certainly never order them in a restaurant. That was, until my friend Rachel stayed with me in London last year and made me this recipe. It was only this week, when I asked her where it was from, that I found out that it was one of Jamie's elaborate takes on the traditional and, in my opinion, rather dull Italian meatball.
So it is that I must bashfully acknowledge that Jamie Oliver, in this instance, gets one point over the Italians; sometimes, but only sometimes, messing about with their traditional recipes can lead to good results.
The original recipe for Jamie Oliver's meatballs can be found here and includes a portion of his basic tomato sauce recipe, which can be found here. Ray has substituted some ingredients, I think for the better. The only addition I have made is stale bread soaked in milk, a trick I learned from Angela Hartnett, which make the meatballs much more soft and tender.
I hope to convert a few more people to meatballs with this recipe.
Makes enough for 3-4 people (approximately 10 meatballs). Serve with a green salad and crunchy bread.
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
2 x 400g tinned tomatoes
100ml red wine
1 handful basil, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the meatballs
25g stale bread, crusts removed (or breadcrumbs)
50ml milk
500g minced beef (or a mixture of minced meats, e.g. beef with pork, veal or lamb)
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 egg, lightly whisked
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
150g mozzarella cheese
30g parmesan cheese (approx), grated
1 handful fresh basil, finely chopped
Method
For the tomato sauce
Add the olive oil to a large saucepan and put over a low heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions, garlic and oregano, stir and cover with a lid.
When the onions and garlic are soft and pale yellow in colour, add the tomatoes and red wine. Leave this to simmer while you prepare the meatballs. Remove from heat after about 10 minutes and stir in the basil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
For the meatballs
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Cut the bread into small cubes. Put in a bowl and pour over the milk. Leave to one side.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the minced meat, oregano, chilli flakes, rosemary, cumin, coriander, egg, salt and pepper. I use my hands for this, as it is the best way to ensure the mix is well combined. Gently mix through the milk soaked bread. You should then test the seasoning by either frying a little piece of the mixture or tasting a tiny bit raw.
Using your hands, form the mix into balls (the size is up to you). Add the olive oil to a thick-based casserole pan and warm over a high heat. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs and fry them until they are lightly browned on all sides.
Remove from heat and add the tomato sauce; depending on the type of mince you are using, you may wish to drain the meatballs of any excess fat before doing this.
Break up the mozzarella over the top and sprinkle with parmesan. Cover and cook in the oven for about 15-20 mins. When it is ready, garnish with basil and serve with crusty bread and a green salad.
Reader Comments (5)
I cooked Ray's meat balls last night , and I declare them a knock out. I'm already a meatball fan , having eaten "albondigas" in Spain many times, but we don't often cook them at home .Obviously we should do so more often. I made a couple of additions/variations to the recipe - I used 50% lamb 50% beef mince - since the flavours in the recipe are very suited to lamb I didn't think it would matter and it tasted just great. The King of Wingdang came for supper and suggested mixing a tea spoon of smoked paprika in with the meat spices. I happened to have some fresh marjoram in the fridge too, so that went into the sauce along with the basil. I also used Angela Hartnet's tip and soaked the bread in milk .Everyone including the King thought this was a fantastic recipe , so thanks Ray , it's going to be one of my regulars from now on.
Yes, indeed, thanks Ray! The mix of lamb and beef sounds good, although I'd be interested to hear whether you could actually taste the lamb? I would have thought the flavour of the sauce would overpower it. I think in Spain they tend to mix beef and pork, which you can definitely taste, but I'm not sure how this would work with the rest of the flavours, although with the King's addition of smoked paprika it would be great. Majoram isn't readily available here so I haven't tried it with that. Perhaps we can try it out when I am back in Sydney.
I actually made these again the other night for my Dad's birthday and decided on using pork and beef. The flavour was fantastic. I'll definitely be doing this from now on!
Did you do the paprika too? Or was everything else as is? I think Spain was the first place I ever had meatballs that I liked and they definitely use pork (what Spanish meat dish doesn't in some form or other?) so I can imagine how good it might be. I'll have to try it out!
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