Mamma Mia
Most people have a treasured family recipe passed down the generations - a favourite cake or the perfect Sunday roast. Some of you may have recipe books, hand-written and passed down from your parents over the generations. This isn't the case in my family, with many recipes being locked in the head of nonna and passed down to my aunt and mother, who were simply shown how to do it. Nothing had been written down and with my nonna approaching her 90th birthday I started to worry that this knowledge would be lost. So for that, and the selfish reason that I love eating this stuff, I began to nag my mother for the family recipes that I have grown up adoring. First up, meatballs!
A lot of meatball recipes will tell you the traditional way is to use a mix of minced beef or veal and pork. These are made with all cow and I have to say I prefer them that way.
Mamma Bites' Beef Meatballs
450g lean minced beef
2 - 3 Slices of white bread made into breadcrumbs
100g grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs (beaten)
3 tblsp chopped fresh parsley
1 - 2 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed and mixed with salt to a paste
1 tblsp of plain flour
½ tspn ground black pepper
In a large bowl mix the bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, flour pepper and parsley together.
Add the mince and mix everything together till all evenly combined then add the eggs and knead until mix comes together.
Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour for the flavours to combine.
After the hour is up, break off walnut size pieces and roll into balls, (if your meat was unfrozen, you can freeze them at this stage put them on a tray in the freezer till frozen and then they can be bagged up).
To cook, defrost if frozen then put in a roasting tin with a little oil and cook at 200c/Gas Mark 6 for about 20 -25 minutes until browned.
Eat warm with spaghetti and a tomato sauce or serve them on their own as a great snack.
A lot of meatball recipes will tell you the traditional way is to use a mix of minced beef or veal and pork. These are made with all cow and I have to say I prefer them that way.
Mamma Bites' Beef Meatballs
450g lean minced beef
2 - 3 Slices of white bread made into breadcrumbs
100g grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs (beaten)
3 tblsp chopped fresh parsley
1 - 2 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed and mixed with salt to a paste
1 tblsp of plain flour
½ tspn ground black pepper
In a large bowl mix the bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, flour pepper and parsley together.
Add the mince and mix everything together till all evenly combined then add the eggs and knead until mix comes together.
Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour for the flavours to combine.
After the hour is up, break off walnut size pieces and roll into balls, (if your meat was unfrozen, you can freeze them at this stage put them on a tray in the freezer till frozen and then they can be bagged up).
To cook, defrost if frozen then put in a roasting tin with a little oil and cook at 200c/Gas Mark 6 for about 20 -25 minutes until browned.
Eat warm with spaghetti and a tomato sauce or serve them on their own as a great snack.
Comments
It sounds like a valuable collection and a very worthwhile project to catalogue them for posterity