Spanish minted meatballs

Although I love meatballs, I don't cook them often enough. I have always wondered why. The first recipe I posted on this blog was for Spiced Lamb Meatballs' Bar Oso", and it has been a long gap. Here is another fantastic recipe.

This recipe has bold and deep flavours of concentrated tomatoes scented with mint. The contrast is quite spectacular and I must say quite addictive. I served this dish with toast points, mainly so we could sop up the sauce. The perfect bite-sized meatballs are succulent and soft, and quite hard to resist.

The New Spanish Table is one of my favourite cookbooks for tapas and other Spanish foods. I have cooked several recipes from this very hefty cookbook, and all of them, like this one, are superb. The recipes are authentic to their core, full of flavour, and delicious. As I absolutely love Spanish cuisine, particularly Catalan, I often turn to this cookbook. I highly recommend it for those who want excellent Spanish cuisine on their tables.

For more recipes from this cookbook, click here.

2 slices of white bread, crust removed and soaked in 1/4 cup of milk

1 1/2 lb ground meat, mutton, lamb, or a mix of lamb and beef

6 tablespoons mint, minced

4 garlic cloves, finely diced and made into a paste with the side of your knife

Salt, to taste

1 teaspoon pepper

1 egg, whisked

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons oil

1 large onion, finely diced

3 cups tomatoes, finely diced

1/4 cup sherry or Madeira wine

1 cup tomato juice

4 tablespoons mint, finely minced + to garnish

White toast points

Squeeze the milk out of the bread and add to a bowl with the meat, mint, garlic, salt, pepper, and egg. Mix well with your hands, ensuring the spices and herbs are evenly distributed. Do not overwork the mix; the secret to soft and juicy meatballs. Take a teaspoon of the mix and form it into a small patty. Fry it in a pan. Taste and adjust salt and mint if needed.

Make small meatballs, about the size of golf balls. Add the oil to a wide frying pan and fry the meatballs till they are browned all over. You can shake the pan, roll the meatballs, and turn them, or use a spatula to do so. You may want to fry the meatballs in 2-3 batches so that you are not overcrowding the pan; the meatballs will begin to stew rather than fry. Remove the batches when they are done and set them aside. If the centres are still raw, do not worry, the meatballs will be cooked again later.

Make the sauce by heating the oil in a large pot that will be able to contain all the meatballs later. Fry till the onions are lightly golden. Add the tomatoes, wine, and tomato juice, and simmer for 25 minutes until you have a thick sauce and the tomatoes have broken down completely. Cool and purée the mix in a small blender till smooth.

Add the puréed tomatoes to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the meatballs and mint and simmer for 25 minutes. If the sauce gets dry, top up with some tomato juice. The final sauce should be very thick and cling to the meatballs heavily, with the oil floating to the surface.

Serve hot, garnished with mint and with toast points for the sauce.