Posie’s Place

The doctor had referred me for a massage on Monday to help my back but it feels worse today than it did before. I was hoping to feel the benefit by now but instead I’m just having pangs of pain in one of my nerves. Good news is that I went to the Diabetes clinic on Tuesday and my blood sugar is well under control so the food plan is working!! I can’t tell you what a relief that is!

Anyway, back to food related matters….

After digging out my copy of “Cook with Jamie” the other night I’m on a roll and have decided to test drive another recipe. We both liked the chicken wrapped in pancetta the other night and as I’ve already said it’s about time I started to ensure that our freezer was was well stocked with homemade dishes. The bottom drawer of the deep freeze was still quite full of meat prime for making some casseroles etc and today when I looked I found a couple of packs of minced beef. Perfect!!

Whenever I buy minced beef I always make sure it contains no more than 5% fat otherwise I buy rump steak and ask the butcher to mince it for me. There is nothing worse than coming across a UFO (unidentified foreign object) in your mince after you have slaved away all day making a culinary masterpiece, it’s been my experience that the very lean minced beef has a much lower chance of containing anything nasty since you a pay a premium price.

I’m a bit predictable when it comes to recipes using minced beef, generally I make one of three things:

a) Chilli con carne

b) Meatballs (a recipe based upon one from Natalie which I think in turn was based on an Antonio Carluccio recipe)

c) Traditional Scottish mince and tatties

Instead of following my usual meatball recipe I thought it would be nice to give Jamie’s recipe a try.

Jamie’s original recipe was called Pappardelle With A Ragu Of Tiny Meatballs and he gave the recipe for making the pasta but I’m not bothering making fresh pasta.

JAMIE O’S RAGU OF TINY MEATBALLS

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

For the meatballs

• 450g Minced beef
• 1-2 Dried chillies (I have an absolute wealth of these things thanks to two years bumper crops homegrown on my balcony and I’m always looking for ways to use them!)
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Nutmeg, grated
• 3 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Large egg
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
• Salt and pepper

For the tomato sauce

• Olive oil
• 2-3 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• A Bunch of basil, leaves picked and stalks chopped
• 1 Fresh red chilli, pierced with the tip of a knife
• 2 x 400g Tins of plum tomatoes
• Swig of red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

PREPARATION

To make the meatballs

1. Add all of the meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix with your hands until everything is thoroughly combined.
2. Shape the mixture into marble-sized balls. To help the mixture not to stick to your hands rinse them in cold water in between every so often, according to Jamie this make the meatballs dense and helps them keep their shape.
3. Place the completed meatballs onto a tray/plate and put them into the fridge whilst you make the tomato sauce.

For the tomato sauce

1. Pour some olive oil into a large pan, add the garlic, basil stalks and the whole chilli allowing them to fry gently.
2. Next add the tomatoes and red wine vinegar, season with salt and pepper and allow the sauce to simmer gently for 30 minutes or so.
3. Heat some more olive oil in a frying pan and add the meatballs, fry until they are well coloured then place them into the tomato sauce.
4. Remove the chilli from the sauce and check the seasoning. Continue to simmer the sauce for a further 10-15 minutes.
5. If you are serving the meatballs with dried pasta it is now that it should be prepared.
6. Once the pasta is ready, drain it in a colander reserving a little of the cooking liquor. Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well to ensure maximum coverage.
7. Add the parmesan cheese and half of the torn basil leaves to the pasta and toss once more, add the reserved cooking liquor too loosen the sauce if required.
8. Sprinkle over the rest of the basil, finishing the dish off with some more parmesan cheese.
9. Serve immediately!

A really fast, great meatball recipe from Jamie. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and I think I’ll be making it again!

recipe, food