Meatballs in tomato sauce in Europe are often called meat balls, although meatballs in Scandinavia are just a meat cake like our cutlet. Cheerless Carlson brought the world fame to this dish, who built the pyramids of this dish in the company of the Kid. Since then, most children (at least those who are familiar with this character) love spaghetti with meatballs in tomato sauce, and striving to build a tower of meat balls, becoming like a beloved hero. Who knows, maybe it is in this wonderful dish that the inexhaustible source of optimism that is imbued with “a man in the prime of life” is hidden?
Cooking minced chicken
To cook meatballs in tomato sauce (in a pan) according to the recipe of Italian chefs - masters of perfect sauce, you must first do the minced meat.
From chicken meat balls are obtained especially tender, so if you cook for children, then in this option. Of the products you need:
- 1 kg chicken fillet;
- 4 tbsp. l heavy cream and as many breadcrumbs. You can mix them initially so that the crumbs are well saturated;
- 2 eggs;
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and salt to taste.
Primary heat treatment
Stuffing for meatballs in tomato sauce is prepared in the usual way: the meat is minced with a meat grinder, mixed with cream-dried crackers, spices, and eggs are also added. The whole mass is thoroughly mixed by hands, and then small balls (the size of a small plum) should be fashioned from it. Each lump must be thoroughly kneaded, making sure that the edges of the meatball are smooth, otherwise it may fall apart when frying.
Heat a frying pan and fry the balls over high heat in three tablespoons of vegetable oil until a deep brown crust. Already now you can feel the amazing aroma of meatballs in a pan with a sauce of tomato sauce: they will be just amazing! Put the prepared meatballs in a wide dish (for example, a baking sheet), if possible in one layer.
How to make gravy?
Given that meatballs are usually cooked in a pan in tomato sauce, the sauce for the sauce can be as follows: finely chop one onion and fry in two tablespoons of vegetable oil until transparent, add one carrot, grated on a fine grater, and 1/2 bell pepper, chopped thin straws. Fry vegetables until soft, add 2 tbsp. l tomato paste, diluted in 1 tbsp. warm water (also water can be replaced with orange juice, which will give the gravy a special aftertaste). Salt to taste, slightly pepper and add 1 tsp. sugar, as well as any spice to your taste: it can be basil, oregano or coriander. Let the gravy simmer for five minutes.
Also, tomato sauce for meatballs can be more spicy, with a rich flavor composition. Chop a large onion and fry in three tablespoons of vegetable oil, add three cloves of garlic, crushed in the press, and also 1/4 tsp. ground oregano and coriander. Pour with two glasses of tomato juice or two tablespoons of pasta diluted in one glass of warm water. Let the sauce boil for three minutes, then add 2 tablespoons of hot ketchup and as much thick sour cream. Salt to taste. Stir for another three minutes and then use to cook spaghetti with meatballs in tomato sauce.
Final touch
When all the meat balls are fried, the gravy is also ready - fill the meatballs with tomato sauce in a pan so that they are almost completely covered with the mixture, and put on the stove, the fire should be small. We close the dish with a lid and simmer the dish for eight to ten minutes. Also, if desired, a sprig of fresh basil or thyme can be added to the sauce if you like dishes with the rich aroma inherent in Italian cuisine.
You can also cook meatballs in tomato sauce in the oven, placing them in a form with high sides or on a baking sheet and pour gravy. They are baked for no more than 15 minutes at a temperature of 220 degrees. When serving, you can sprinkle with herbs or cheese.
Oven fish meatballs
In a tomato sauce, with aromatic spices and mouth-watering cheese crust, this dish will not leave anyone indifferent. For cooking, you will need a fish fillet (800 grams), which must be grinded with minced meat. You can use pike or zander, more inexpensive hake and pollock will also work. It is also necessary to prepare the following ingredients:
- one hundred grams of milk or cream;
- 3-4 slices of white bread, if any, stale;
- one small onion;
- two eggs;
- three cloves of garlic;
- 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg;
- 150 grams of hard cheese.
Mix the minced fish with chopped onions and garlic, add spices and salt to taste, beat in the eggs and mix thoroughly. Using your hands dipped in water, fashion small meatballs and place them on a greased baking sheet, a short distance from each other. Bake in the oven at a temperature of 230 degrees for fifteen minutes, then pour the sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and continue the baking process for another ten minutes.
Sauce making
Tomato sauce for meatballs in the oven can be used from the options proposed above, and you can also cook gravy in the spirit of Mediterranean cuisine, which goes well with any fish dishes. To prepare it, you need to take six large, fleshy tomatoes and, having doused with boiling water, remove the skin from them. This is easy to do by making an incision crosswise on top of the fruit. Then grind them with a blender in mashed potatoes, adding in the process six cloves of garlic, 1/4 teaspoon hot cayenne pepper and 1 tsp. dried thyme. Warm up three tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, pour a mass of tomatoes there and add an incomplete glass of water. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, then add salt to taste. Next, gravy can be used to fill meatballs or just as gravy for spaghetti.
Recipe from Carlson's Homeland
A step-by-step recipe for meatballs in tomato sauce from distant Sweden looks like this:
- Soak one hundred grams of bread crumb in 100 grams of cream for five to ten minutes.
- Mix three hundred grams of pork and ground beef and add the bread mass to them.
- Chop one onion very finely, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper and send to the meat mass.
- Mix a tablespoon of the finished mustard with one egg to a uniform consistency and pour to the minced meat, mix it with your hands, trying not to delay the process, otherwise the prepared meatballs will not be light and airy.
Fashion small balls and fry in a pan until golden brown. The fire of the stove should be intense, while making sure that the stuffing does not burn: you need to constantly turn the meat balls with a fork or shaking the pan, tilting it from side to side and back and forth, as the Swedes do. Next, pour meatballs in tomato sauce according to the recipe (any) proposed above, simmer for ten minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes.
With cauliflower and herbs
In the process of cooking meatballs, it is not necessary to follow a traditional recipe; we recommend you come up with something your own, original, for example, add vegetable to ground beef. For this, you can use cauliflower, which goes well with almost any mincemeat due to its freshness.
For 500 grams of minced meat you will need:
- boil three hundred grams of cauliflower for five minutes, put in a colander and grind in mashed potatoes.
- two eggs;
- 3 tbsp. tablespoons of soy sauce;
- 50 grams of breadcrumbs;
- a bunch of parsley. It must be chopped very finely;
- 1/2 tsp coriander and as much black pepper;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dried ginger.
Mix all the products together, salt the minced meat to taste and mold balls from it with a diameter of not more than four centimeters. Fry in vegetable oil in a deep frying pan until golden brown and pour in the tomato sauce you like. Stew meatballs in gravy for ten minutes and immediately serve with your favorite side dish and vegetable salad.