Meatballs With Garlic-Mint Sauce
I love fried meatballs. They are tasty and easy to make. So I paired them with a garlic-mint sauce that my mother used to serve over steak, thus my Meatballs With Garlic-Mint Sauce. The meatballs themselves also use a generous portion of fresh mint, which gives them a distinctly Sicilian flavor.
I wanted to find the right balance between too-soft and too-dry meatballs. In my search, I discovered that using a small amount of soft, fresh breadcrumbs soaked in milk, combined with fine, dry breadcrumbs gives the texture I wanted.
Fresh mint—preferably spearmint— and good-quality olive oil are essential for the sauce. I tend to use the Rocombole garlic, which is available in my local green market, for its deep, complex flavor. The mint and the Rocombole are at their best in the summer, so I reserve this recipe for that time of year. Feel free to use the ordinary garlic you find in the supermarket; you will still get a fine result. I do find, however, that fresh mint found in the winter, which I assume to be a hothouse variety, has an extremely unpleasant flavor.
For the meat, I prefer ground chuck because the fat content gives a juicier meatball than the leaner and drier ground round or ground sirloin. My butcher grinds this for me to order. I like to cut the meatballs in half or quarters on my plate before I ladle the sauce over them, so that it fully flavors the inside.
Some of my other meatball recipes: Sicilian Meatball Soup; Spaghetti and Meatballs.
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Soak the fresh breadcrumbs or panko crumbs in just enough milk to moisten them.
Moisten the crumbs with milk.
Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl with your hands.
Place all ingredients in a bowl.
Knead until the mixture is combined and smooth, but don’t over mix. Take a heaping teaspoon of the mixture and flatten into a patty. Fry it in oil and taste for seasoning.
Fry a bit to test for taste.
If necessary, add more salt, pepper, cheese or herbs to suit your taste before rolling into balls. When you’ve arrived at the taste you like, roll the meatballs in the palm of your hands until they are smooth. Mine are generally about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
In the meantime, prepare the mint sauce. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the mint and the garlic together until it forms a paste.
Pound the garlic, mint, and oil.
It will not be smooth. Gradually beat in the olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Add just a bit of cold water to reach a consistency you like. More water gives a milder taste.
Fry the meatballs in oil until nicely browned on all sides.
Fry the meatballs.
Serve the Meatballs With Garlic-Mint Sauce, allowing guests to spoon their desired amount of sauce over their cut meatballs
I always make extra—doubling the recipe —because the meatballs are also good served cold or at room temperature. And if there are still some extras, they freeze beautifully. Use them to make spaghetti and meatballs. Just combine the thawed meatballs with your favorite tomato sauce recipe, simmer for an hour or so, and voilà!
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