Italian | Chianti Meatballs

Revised on March 21, 2012

I got this recipe from the magazine Italy. My friend at work used to give me his old copies, I loved that magazine. I believe it doesn't exist anymore, they have a website and newsletter though. These are tasty meatballs. The article said that you can use white wine instead of red. I haven't tried that yet.

Ingredients

1 cup homemade breadcrumbs (about 2 slices of bread)

whole milk

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 pound each ground beef, pork, and veal

handful finely chopped Italian parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan

kosher sea salt, to taste

freshly ground pepper, to taste

olive oil for frying

12 ounces Chianti wine

 

Method

In a large bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with just enough milk to form a thick paste. (Careful not to make too wet or the meatballs with fall apart.) Stir in the mustard. To the breadcrumb mixture, add the ground meats, parsley, garlic, egg, and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Using your hands, form into small meatballs.

Heat small layer of oil in a deep frying pan (I like to use a Scanpan) and fry the meatballs in batches, turning to brown on all sides. Drain the meatballs on paper towels.

Remove excess oil from the pan. Pour wine into pan on high heat, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the meatballs back to the pan with the wine and simmer over medium heat until the wine has evaporated and sauce has reduced by half.

 

(Ref. "Drunken Meatballs", Italy magazine.)