Tastes like home.

This dish of meteorite-sized meatballs swimming in a tomato and dill-addled sauce is a bigger, bolder version of the spaghetti bolognese my mum made for us growing up. And as a family we turn to it again and again.

Katrina Meynink says…

I didn’t come from a large, boisterous family of cooks. Rather, I learned in snippets from my beautiful grandmother, long before I knew the hold food would have over my life. So the reality is the meal of home for me growing up, like many kids, was a simple spaghetti bolognese. It is a meal my mother now makes for my children who seem to feel the same way about its magical powers to keep the world at bay. It tastes of home and comfort and security and is partly why I see food as an emotional endeavour as much as it is a gustatory one. Food fulfils many needs. It feeds the belly and the soul.

This dish of meteorite-sized meatballs swimming in a tomato and dill-addled sauce is a bigger, bolder version of the spaghetti bolognese my mum made for us growing up. And as a family we turn to it again and again.

There is absolutely nothing subtle about it. From the size of the meatballs to the piquant hit of pickles, the showering of dill and fried pickles to finish, cutting through the rich tomato sauce: they are the perfect bedfellows. It’s the kind of dish that can make your tastebuds come alive while simultaneously being so comforting you sigh with simple delight – like a contented baby that has just been swaddled.

The rhythm of life in our family is marked by meals and the spaces we carve out in our day or week to share them. When life is hard, a relationship with food like this is simple. Together, at the table, always. Life actually isn’t cloudy with a chance of meatballs: it is, in fact, truly delightful. Meatballs. Onwards.

 

Ingredients

Rolls six big ones

4 pita or a few pieces of white bread, coarsely torn
250ml milk
60g dill leaves, chopped
500g minced pork
500g minced beef
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, finely diced
1 egg
½ tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika
½ tablespoon each celery seeds, ground coriander and ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Generous glug of olive oil, for frying
Sliced sweet and spicy pickles, to serve

Saucy Sauce

3 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves
1 small celery stalk, finely diced
pinch of celery seeds
pinch of ground coriander
125ml sweet and spicy pickle juice
140g tomato paste
120ml vodka
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup sliced sweet and spicy pickles, chopped
700ml tomato passata
250ml chicken stock
800g tinned crushed tomatoes

 

Method

To make the saucy sauce, place a stockpot over a medium-low heat. Add the oil and, once hot, fry the onions, garlic and celery until soft. Add the celery seeds and ground coriander and continue to cook until fragrant. Add the pickle juice and tomato paste and cook until the onion is coated in the mixture and has darkened in colour. Add the vodka, Worcestershire, brown sugar and chopped pickles. Cook for 5 minutes or until slightly reduced and it looks nice and glossy. Add the passata, stock and tinned crushed tomatoes. Turn the heat to very low and let it simmer while you have a lie down for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. To make the balls, put the pita or bread in a bowl and pour over the milk. Set aside for 15 minutes or until softened. In another large bowl, add half the dill and the remaining ingredients, season with salt flakes and ground black pepper, and roughly combine. Squeeze any excess milk from the pita or bread bits and add to the bowl, discarding the milk. Give everything a good mix. Take a hunk of mixture and roll into a tennis ball size – it should just fit in your hands. Make six.

Place a frying pan over low heat. Add the olive oil and, once hot, add the meatballs and gently fry on all sides, just to get a bit of colour. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan and squish them into oblivion; a gentle cook and turn is what is required here. Transfer to a large roasting dish and cover with the sauce, keeping the frying pan to the side. Pop in the oven and cook for 45 minutes, turning halfway through.

Just before the meatballs are ready, place the frying pan back on a medium heat. Add the sliced pickles and let them sizzle in the leftover pan juices until beginning to char. Keep an eye on them, as this will vary between brands and the sugar content in the pickles. Flip and repeat.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and top with the fried pickles and remaining chopped dill. Season recklessly with sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper and serve.

 

KATRINA MEYNINK’S KITCHEN KEEPERS: REAL-LIFE RECIPES TO MAKE ON REPEAT IS OUT NOW FROM HARDIE GRANT BOOKS.

 

Published in ed#738