JOHNNY CASH MEATBALLS

“Heh, come over here, kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs; heh…? And a little bit o’ wine. An’ a little bit o’ sugar, and that’s my trick.” Clemenza in ‘The Godfather’.

Let’s say that I have never hidden how deeply in love I am with the Sicilian cusine. And when I had to think about what to cook for a friend’s dinner to remember our holidays together I had no doubts: these ingredients rocked together, and they were so like Sicily. The final result will make you want to quote Peter Clemenza (The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola): ” Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”. Because cannoli after these meatballs, really worth the half kilo weight gained. I will not expand on how spatial, soft and tasty in its own original way (feta cheese gives it that something special: the taste of salt, flavor of the sea … It is also a bit ‘from Mykonos.). I leave you the recipe and I can’t wait to know what you think. I’m going to give you a recipe you can’t refuse.

INGREDIENTS (for about 20 meatballs)

Meatballs:

• 300 gr. of minced meat (mixed beef and pork)
• 1 eggplant
• 4 slices of white bread softened in milk and water
• 2 eggs
• 100 gr. of grated parmesan
• 180 gr. of feta cheese
• 50 gr. of breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper q.s.
• Seed oil for frying

Homemade tomato sauce:

• 500 gr. of cherry tomatoes
• An half red onion
• Olive oil, salt and paprika q.s.

Matching soundtrack: Ring of fire, Johnny Cash

PROCESS

I would recommend to start from the tomato sauce. Slit the top of the tomatoes with an x, that will facilitate the next step, the skinning. Put them in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and remove the peel. Then cut them in half with your fingers and delete also the seeds. Now they are ready for the sauce.

Finely chop an half of a red onion and put it to brown with a little olive oil in a pan in which you’ll add the tomatoes chopped rough. Add salt and pepper and wait half an hour the sauce shrink. When it’s ready put just over half of the sauce obtained in a blender and chop it all off. I would put only a part because I like a sauce with more coarse and textures, but if you prefer you can pass it all.

Now onto the meatballs. The first step is to cut the eggplant into small pieces and cook it with a little olive oil and salt in a pan for about half an hour. Now we just have to prepare the dough: in a bowl (or in a blender if you prefer to chop the whole in machine), put the ground beef, the eggs, the bread previously soaked in milk and squeezed, the bread crumbs, the parmesan cheese, the grated feta, salt, pepper and parsley and mix together. Once ready the eggplant, add them to the mixture and mix well.

Now let’s heat the oil for frying in a wok. Shape the meatballs and dip them in hot oil, turning them gently from time to time until cooked (approximately 5 minutes). Drain the cooked meatballs on absorbent paper and put them in the hot tomato sauce. Now the meatballs are ready.

Please, let me know and enjoy your weekend!

Photography: Sara Cartelli.
© The Eat Culture.