Meatballs are an all-time favourite with many. This easy dish is very satisfying when prepared with care and good quality ingredients. The meatballs go very well as a starter and are much loved in Spain where they are served as tapas and called albóndigas. They can be prepared in advance very successfully and served with a sauce of your choice.
INGREDIENTS
(makes 16)
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 red peppers
3 tbsp oil
200 ml vegetable stock
150 ml Oldenburger Culinary Cream, 18% fat
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
2 loaves of white bread
1⁄2 bunch oregano
300 g minced beef
1 egg
ground paprika
100 g Oldenburger Butter unsalted
white bread for serving
Preparation
Peel onions and garlic and dice finely. Trim, wash, halve and deseed peppers. Dice half the peppers roughly and cut the other half in slices. Slice bread. Wash oregano, shake it dry and chop leaves finely.
The Pepper
Place the pepper slices under a hot grill. Roast until tender making sure sure the skin does not turn too dark or burn.
The Sauce
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pot. Add half of the diced onions, garlic as well as the roughly diced peppers to the pot and sweat them for 2 minutes. Add vegetable stock and Oldenburger Culinary Cream, cook at medium heat with lid on until vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes).
Puree sauce and pass through a sieve. Season with sea salt and pepper and keep warm.
The Meatballs
Steep small slices of bread in milk. Squeeze bread thoroughly and knead together with the finely diced pepper, remaining diced onion, garlic, minced beef, egg and chopped oregano leaves. Season with sea salt, ground pepper and ground paprika. Form mixture into 16 small balls.
Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan to a medium heat of approx. 110 °C. Then, fry the balls for approx. 7 minutes until golden brown from all sides with closed lid. At the end of the frying process, you can add a piece of Oldenburger butter. It adds a wonderful rich flavor to the meatballs.
The Final Touch
Place meatballs in small tapas dishes, pour some pepper sauce over it. Top with grilled pepper slices and scatter with oregano leaves. Serve with freshly toasted white bread.
01. Adding cream to a vegetable sauce greatly enhances the flavour as well as giving a smooth and shiny finish. The sauce should be kept at a warm temperature, as cooling will result in a fine skin forming which looks less pleasant.
03. If you prefer a richer, more buttery flavor, you can fry the meatballs adding butter only to the frying pan. Fry at medium temperature from all sides.
