RECIPE / RALPH SCHELLING

Polpette

Our Swiss chef’s take on an Italian favourite: meatballs with a rich red-wine sauce. This is an excellent main with either some warm crusty bread or mashed potato flecked with wholegrain mustard. Enjoy. Serves 4

• Ingredients for the meatballs:
• 25g parsley
• 50g breadcrumbs (ideally from the day before)
• 50mlcream
• 400g minced pork
• 400g minced beef
• 1 egg yolk
• Salt and pepper
• Nutmeg, a pinch
• 1 tbspflour

• Ingredients for the sauce
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 carrot
• 100g celery
• 4 tbsps olive oil
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika
• 100ml red wine
• 300ml beef stock
• 400ml fresh tomatoes or 250ml chopped pelati (canned peeled tomatoes)

• Method:
• 1. Mix the breadcrumbs into the cream.
• 2. Finely chop the parsley. Chop the onion and garlic. Grate the carrots and celery or dice thinly by hand and set aside for the sauce.
• 3. Combine the minced meat with the egg yolk in a bowl and add the breadcrumbs and parsley. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• 4. Form equal-sized balls of a few centimetres in diameter and dust with flour.
• 5. Fry the meatballs in oil in a large frying pan for about 5 minutes then remove onto kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil.
• 6. Sauté the onions, garlic, carrot and celery in the same pan for about 5 minutes, add paprika powder and stir, then deglaze with wine and stock on a medium heat. Add tomato purée and the meatballs to the sauce, season to taste and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Serve in a large bowl or directly from the pan.