Image
Friday, September 11, 2015 - 15:30
Guys Love Cooking weekend recipe: Meatballs (gehaktballen)
A few months ago we started guyslovecooking.com, a food blog. Our main goal was, and still is, to share our passion for the food we eat and for how we cook it. Since then we reached all corners of the world and connected with amazing people. We reached out to the NL Times to build on another platform and to engage with a different audience. We hope to be able to inspire you to have a great time in your kitchen.
We decided to start with Meatballs as our first recipe. They are something that could easily be found essentially in every world cuisine. They are made with meat or fish. Recently we have been in Sicily and we have had great tuna ones. If you visited the Egadi islands you know what we are talking about. Most times they are made with beef or pork. Often with bread crumbs and eggs, depending on the regional taste.
Since moving to The Netherlands we have been on a food quest to discover what this great country has got to offer. And with our delight, there is also a Dutch version of meatballs – or gehaktballen as they are called here. Gehaktballen, like any other meatballs, are very easy to make and delicious to eat. In Italy they have meatballs as a main course, here are usually eaten with potatoes or other vegetables.
One funny fact is that Gehaktballen are also refer to as ‘Woensdag, gehaktdag’ – translated as "Wednesday, the meatball day." This used to be a marketing slogan created by the butchers in 50’s and 60’s to promote the leftover (minced) meat. Butchers used to slaughter the meat on Monday, sell the more expensive parts on Tuesday and Wednesday was the day where the less expensive parts were minced and sold at lower price. Many elderly people and some Dutch families still eat meat balls on Wednesday. A ball is the shape you want, or close enough.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"23678","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-full wp-image-45329","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"680","height":"471","alt":"MeatBalls"}}]]
Meatballs (Gehaktballen)
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 55 minutes Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes Yield: 4 servings Serving Size: 2 meatballsIngredients
- Ground pork: 350 g (12 oz)
- Ground beef: 350 g (12 oz)
- Shallot: 2, minced
- Egg: 1, lightly beaten
- Mustard: 3 tbsp
- Ground pepper: 1 tsp
- Sea salt: 1 tsp
- Ground nutmeg: 1 tsp
- Sandwich bread (white/dark): 3 slices, remove the crust
- Milk: 125 ml (1/2 cup)
- Flour: 3 tbsp
- Butter: 60 g (2 oz)
- Water: 180 ml (3/4 cup), warm
- (Beef) bouillon: 180 ml (3/4 cup)
- Corn starch: 1 tbsp
Method
- Mix the ground pork, ground beef, minced shallots, nutmeg, salt, pepper, mustard together until combined
- Soak the sandwich slices in the milk and add it to the meat and mix until combined again
- Split the mixture into 8 portions and roll them into balls, then roll them through the flour and set aside
- Melt the butter in a nonstick deep-bottom pan/skillet (high heat), then add the meatballs and brown throughout their surface
- Cover the pan/skillet and continue to cook in low heat for 15 mins, turn over the balls and cook for another 10 mins
- Add the water into the pan/skillet and continue to cook for another 20 mins, covered. Then take the meatballs out of the pan/skillet
- Dissolve the corn starch in the bouillon, add them into the pan/skillet and stir evenly until thickened, adjust to taste with salt/pepper
- Finishing the dish: Present the meatballs on a plate and pour the thickened sauce over, serve with mashed potatoes/Purée/bread and cooked vegetables