Serves: 20-30 meatballs, depending on size
/7f3bba54-7e77-44bd-81a2-733a6a56c9fe--meatballs.jpg "Hungarian Meatballs 2")
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The reality behind the ingredient shot.
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When working with meatballs (or meatloaf, or hamburgers) you want to handle the mixture as little as possible, or risk making it tough.
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Merrill’s brilliant meatball rolling trick- use wet hands, and they won’t stick.
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After forming the balls, it’s important to get them into the fridge for at least half an hour. The mixture is quite soft, and needs time to firm up before browning.
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We ended up browning on about 3 sides.
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After the meatballs were finished browning, we added the onions right into the pan, make sure to scrape up all the brown bits.
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We added mushrooms, browned them, and then the pepper and garlic, and sauteed until fragrant. Then, the spices. Hot, sweet, and smoked paprika, dried rosemary, thyme, and marjoram, crushed…
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Allowing the spices to cook for about a minute causes them to lose the raw edge that you can often taste.
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After deglazing with white wine, we let it cook down to almost dry, concentrating all the flavors, and then added the chicken stock and stewed tomatoes.
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Nestling the meatballs into the sauce.
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Although it wasn’t specified to add a lid, we did, as the meatballs are meant to braise.
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When the meatballs were done braising, the finishing step is to add a little sour cream to the sauce. Tempering is key, or all your hard work will be rewarded with a curdled sauce and the…
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Beautiful! And decidedly not curdled.
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Ingredients
- For the meatballs
- 3/4 pound ground pork
- 3/4 pound ground beef (80/20 or 85/15)
- 1/4 pound pancetta, small dice
- 1/2 cup parmesean, grated
- 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon (each) red pepper flakes, ground coriander, ground cumin, caraway seeds (crushed), kosher salt, and ground pepper
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- For the sauce
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/4 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 large banana pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika (1 heaping tbsp)
- 1/2 teaspoon hot or half-sharp paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon porcini mushroom powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (each) dried rosemary, thyme, crushed fennel seeds, and marjoram
- 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 15 oz stewed tomatoes, chopped, with juices
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly mix all ingredients for the meatballs except the olive oil together and form into balls 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter. (Depending on size, you should get between 20 and 30.) Allow time to refrigerate them so they firm up a bit.
In an oven-safe pan, brown the meatballs in olive oil on all sides. Remove to a plate, cover with foil, and set aside.
Add the chopped onion to the pan dripping and saute until starting to brown. Add mushroom and saute a few minutes more, until they start to brown as well. Add garlic and peppers and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then add the paprikas, the porcini powder, and the rest of the herbs and spices. Cook, stirring, about a minute. Deglaze with wine. Cook until wine is mostly evaporated, then stir in tomatoes and their juices and the broth. Bring to a boil and return the meatballs to the pan.
Transfer the pan the oven and braise for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and luxuriating in the awesome aromas that should be enveloping your kitchen at this point.
When the braising time is up, remove the pan from the oven. Put the sour cream into a small bowl, then temper it by stirring in a few spoonfuls of the braising liquid. Stir the sour cream mixture back into the pan, coating the meatballs and heating through. Serve as an appetizer or with spaetzle or egg noodles for an entree.
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