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Posts Tagged ‘Beef mince’

Olia’s Meatballs – Sugo Della Mamma

Posted in Food, Pasta, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 24 November 2022| Leave a Comment »

Who doesn’t love meatballs. There’s at least one person in this house who would have them every week. This recipe by Olia Hercules makes heaps to help with that problem.

Wine Suggestion: great with a simple Sangiovese with bright and slightly crunchy fruits and a good wack of tannins. Rocca delle Macie’s Chianti Vernaiolo is our standby and doesn’t hide behind oak, rather celebrates the joy of fruit. The added joy is the smooth tannins this wine brings despite the potentially awkward Sangiovese grape; they have a great feel for getting the balance right even with a bouncingly youthful cuvee.

Olia’s Meatballs – Sugo Della Mamma – makes 30 meatballs

FOR THE MEATBALLS:

  • 60g stale sourdough bread with crusts (or dry out 80g of fresh bread chunks in the oven)
  • 250ml hot whole milk
  • 20g parsley, very finely chopped
  • 400g beef mince
  • 400g pork mince
  • 1 small egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely grated
  • 100g Pecorino/Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
  • ¼ nutmeg, finely grated

FOR THE SAUCE:

  • up to 5 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and bruised but left whole
  • 800g tomato passata or 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
  • a couple of sprigs of basil
  • Tagliagelle, pappardelle or orecchiette, to serve

Put the bread into a bowl and pour over the hot milk. Leave for 5 mintues then press the bread down to make sure it’s all soaked. Cover and leave for 15 minutes.

Mix the mince, egg, bread and soaking milk, grated garlic, parsley, cheese and nutmeg together. Season well with 1 tbsp of sea salt and lots of black pepper. Use your hands to mix it all together really well.

Wet your hands and shape the mixture into about 30 golf-ball sixed meatballs.

Heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil for the sauce. Fry the meatballs in batches until browned on a couple of sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

If you need more fat you can add the extra 2 tbsp of oil, then add the bruised garlic and cook for a few minutes to infuse the oil, then remove and discard.

Add the passata or tomatoes to the pan, then fill the jar or tin with 200ml water and add that with a generous pinch of salt. Cook over a medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Gently place the meatballs into the sauce and cook for 15-20 minutes at a gentle bubble. Add the basil sprigs for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

Cook the pasta, then roughy drain so a little water remains. Return the pasta to the pot it was cooked in, ladle over the sauce and meatballs and gently stir to combine.

Serve with extra grated pecorino.

(Original recipe from Home Food by Olia Hercules, Bloomsbury, 2022.)

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Bobotie

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , , on 29 October 2019| Leave a Comment »

Bobotie

We made this on the first dark night after the clocks changed. A delicious spicy baked dish from South Africa that we had heard of many times but never tasted. Definitely give this one a go as the flavours are fantastic.

Wine Suggestion: An old favourite provided the match tonight: the Secateurs Red by Adi Badenhorst. A Shiraz, Cinsault & Grenache blend, this shows how Swartland holds it’s own against similar Southern Rhone wines; a juicy and spicy red with class.

Bobotie – serves 6

  • butter, for greasing
  • 4 tbsp of olive oil
  • 3 onions, peeled and chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1½ tsp mustard seeds
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 ½ tsp garam masala
  • 1kg beef or lamb mince (we used lamb)
  • 100ml red-wine or cider vinegar
  • 100g flaked almonds
  • 120g raisins
  • 50g fresh breadcrumbs
  • 75g fruit chutney (we used Crossogue Preserves’ Irish Harvest Fruit Chutney)

For the topping:

  • 3 eggs
  • 500ml full-fat milk
  • 3 bay leaves

Heat the oven to 180C/160fan/gas 4.

Grease a large baking dish and set aside.

Warm a large, wide casserole over a medium heat and add three tablespoons of oil.

Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and sweat for 10 minutes, until soft. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves and spices and cook for another few minutes. Tip the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Put the pan back over the heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown in the hot pan in batches, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon and cooking until dark. When the meat is all browned put it all back in to the pan and add the vinegar, almonds and raisins.

Turn the heat down low and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the the heat, stir in the breadcrumbs and chutney and check the seasoning. Tip the mixture into the greased baking dish, level the top with the back of a spoon and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Beat together the eggs and milk and pour over the meat. Scatter over the bay leaves, then bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is golden and the custard just set. We served with brown rice and Tenderstem broccoli.

(Original recipe by Thomasina Myers in the Guardian, 21 Oct 2019)

Bobotie

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Pork & Beef Polpette with Tomato Sauce

Posted in Food, Italian, Pasta, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 28 March 2019| Leave a Comment »

Pork & Beef Polpette with Tomato Sauce

This is a great tomato sauce and of course can be made without meatballs and used in all sorts of things. We like to make the entire recipe and freeze the leftover meatballs in the sauce for tasty meals for kids or when we don’t have time to cook. They’re good served with linguine –  toss the pasta with the meatballs and sauce before serving with some grated Parmesan.

Wine Suggestion: with the higher proportion of pork in the meatballs we think a medium bodied red works better than richer, fuller-bodied wines with this. We went with a Chateau Manoir du Gravoux from Castillon in Bordeaux. A Merlot, Cabernet Franc blend with a lovely freshness and pure, mineral character made a good match.

Pork & Beef Polpette with Tomato Sauce – makes about 40 meatballs and 1.5 litres of sauce

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:

  • 100ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • scant ½ tbsp fine salt
  • ¾ tsp black pepper
  • small pinch of chilli flakes
  • 750g fresh tomatoes, quartered
  • 3 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 small handful of oregano, chopped
  • caster sugar, if needed

FOR THE POLPETTE:

  • 1kg minced pork
  • 500g minced beef
  • 3 medium eggs
  • scant ½ tbsp fine salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 150g breadcrumbs
  • small pinch of dried chilli flakes
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • ½ handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
  • cooked linguine pasta and grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Heat half the oil in a saucepan on a medium-low heat and sweat the onion, garlic, salt, pepper and chilli for 15 minutes. Add the fresh tomatoes and the rest of the oil and cook gently for another 15 minutes.

Add the tinned tomatoes and simmer on a very low heat for an hour.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the oregano. Season with a little sugar if needed, then whizz using a hand-blender or food processor for a few minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7.

Combine all of the meatball ingredients and mix together well with your hands, then roll into golf ball sized meatballs. They should weigh about 45g each. Place on a large greased baking tray and roast for 10 minutes, turning once, until starting to brown.

Add the meatballs to the hot sauce and poach for 10 minutes with the lid on.

Serve with linguine and grated Parmesan.

(Original recipe from Polpo by Russell Norman, Bloomsbury, 2012.)

 

 

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Ragú Bolognese

Posted in Beef, Food, Pasta, Pork, tagged , , , , , , , , on 14 February 2015| 3 Comments »

Bolognese

This is our go-to recipe when we want a Bolognese ragú to go with pasta like penne (as opposed to in a lasagne). We’ve done many variations over the years and even though this isn’t entirely traditional it’s ease and relative speed, alongside a great flavour, mean that we make this more often than any other.

Pasta Bolognese – serves 6

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 100g pancetta, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 250g beef mince
  • 250g pork mince
  • 1 sprig of fresh thyme
  • 100ml red wine
  • 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 250ml chicken stock
  • 250ml milk
  • salt and black pepper
  • 400g dried pasta
  • Grated Parmesan to serve

Cook the onion, carrot, celery and pancetta in the oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat for about 10 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute before turning up the heat and adding the mince and thyme.

Brown the meat for a few minutes until it loses its raw appearance, then add the wine. Stir and reduce for a few minutes.

Add the other ingredients and season well. Bring to the boil, then simmer for an hour.

Cook the pasta according to the pack and toss with the hot sauce and parmesan.

(Original recipe by Jane Baxter in The Guardian, 31st May 2014.)

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