Most Italians will tell you that their mamma makes the best meatballs. But Eugenio Maiale was so convinced his mother had cracked the Holy Grail that he put her recipes on the menu at every restaurant he's owned.
The 54-year-old chef behind A Tavola and Flour, Eggs, Water in Sydney has gone a step further and opened a restaurant which is all about meatballs. Palle, which means 'balls' in Italian, serves them up on their own, in a sandwich or with spaghetti.
"For me, it's always been heartwarming to sit down at the table with my family as mum puts down a bowl of beautiful meatballs cooked in tomato with a nice salad and we would eat that as a meal," Maiale says.
"It's really simple food, but I love a good meatball. I love the taste of it and it soothes my soul."
There are many meatball varieties around the world, but he thinks they all do the same thing. "The Japanese have theirs, Chinese theirs, Russians theirs and they are all different but they all do the same thing for culture – bring families together."
It's really simple food, but I love a good meatball. I love the taste of it and it soothes my soul.
While the recipe is mamma's, Eugenio has cheff-ed it up a little.
"I put cubed bread into the mix as opposed to straight-up breadcrumbs. I don't mind that little bit of bread and moisture popping up when you take a bite - that cheesy, bready, tomatoey, soft, spongy texture against the meat itself," he says.
He serves meatballs with three types of meat: pork, veal and chicken. "The chicken adds texture and lightens it up a little bit too. It's that whole hunter's approach in terms of having three different meats in a dish or making a beautiful sugo with a combination of meats."
One of the most satisfying comfort foods around. Source: Dexter Kim
His meatballs also have herbs, such as parsley and basil, and parmesan, pecorino, ricotta, a hint of anchovy, a little pancetta and breadcrumbs. "They're poached in a beautiful salsa madre (mother sauce) which is like a lovely Napolitana."
As well as mamma's recipe, he also takes inspiration from other dishes and recreates them in a round, bite-size form. Think salt cod and potato balls with aioli, lamb with tzatziki and mushroom, and rice and almond skordalia.
"The cod ball is our take on salt cod fritters. It's cod that we’ve salted ourselves, cooked down with leeks, garlic, a little Montenegro, added puree potato then crumbed and fried them," Maiale says.
"A parmi-ball is based on a classic chicken parmigiana. It's chicken stuffed with mozzarella, topped with tomato sauce then cheese."
You get this beautiful poached eggy, cheesy ball in tomato. They're absolutely delicious.
He is particularly proud of the cheese balls, which are his take on an old Abbruzzese recipe called pallote cacio e uova.
"My mum's from that region [in the south of Italy and east of Rome] and the recipe came about when there was not much meat around. They'd get lovely pecorino cheese, a little Parmigiano, garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs, and then added egg to the mix until it was a consistency where it could be rolled in a ball."
Then locals pan-fried them in olive oil and poached them in a tomato sugo. "You get this beautiful poached eggy, cheesy ball in tomato. They're absolutely delicious."
As long as you have ingredients that can form into a ball and taste good and amazing, they don't have to be meat. Maiale also serves a mushroom-based risotto ball with pecorino and a little cabbage. It's crumbed, fried and similar to an arancino.
Come to Palle for classic Italian meatballs. Source: Dexter Kim
"I love doing a ball with a whole range of vegetables, I slowly roast them, puree them through a mouli, add breadcrumbs, egg, herbs, roll them in crumbs and fry. They're absolutely beautiful and will be on the menu as specials."
There are a million ways to make meatballs, from teeny to oversize, fried to baked, and with fresh breadcrumbs to the stale kind. Maiale has firm opinions on each.
"For me, 45 grams is the perfect size meatball - about the size of a golf ball, slightly bigger - because they lend themselves to the way you can eat them in two bites," he says. "They'll take in enough liquid and braise properly too, because there's less surface area."
The cooking method depends on the ball, according to Maiale. "Frying a ball can be quite good if they're smaller, a massive ball is difficult because the outside probably burns while the inside isn't cooked," he says.
Fried meatballs are tasty if they're the right size, fried quickly and eaten straight away. They don't need resting because they tend to dry out. "Baking them in tomato or liquid is wonderful, especially if they're baked to a point where they're par-poached."
Put them in the oven at about 160°C for around 19 minutes then take them out and leave in the baking dish until cool. They're at their optimum once they've just cooled.
And now we come to the issue of breadcrumbs. Fresh, stale breadcrumbs or stale slices rehydrated with milk?
"Bread does two things, it soaks up all the moisture in the mix but also softens the ball so you have to find that fine balance," Maiale says.
"Get all the bread options, use equal parts of each and you can't go wrong. If you soak your bread you have more hydration which is going to add that extra moisture to your mix as well. When you soak the bread, it tends to spread itself a lot easier into the mix."
The key ingredient that most home cooks miss is fat.
"You need to add fat back into the ball, ingredients like ricotta or lard do that. If you bake a ball with no fat in an oven, you're going to get a hard ball because it doesn't have fat or moisture," Maiale says.
Mamma Maria's meatballs
Makes 50
Ingredients
- 500 g pork mince
- 500 g beef mince
- 500 g chicken mince
- 175 g chopped onion
- 7 g chopped garlic
- 15 g chopped anchovies
- 40 ml white wine
- 8 g fine salt
- 70 g pecorino
- 70 g parmesan
- 35 g chopped parsley
- 15 g chopped rosemary
- 10 g pancetta small dice
- 2 eggs beaten
- 200 g breadcrumbs
- 125 g medium diced focaccia
- 35 ml olive oil
Method
- In a shallow fry pan add oil and sauté onions, garlic, pancetta, rosemary and anchovy for 5 minutes.
- Deglaze with white wine and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Beat eggs and combine with bread. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
- Combine all ingredients and mix together.
- Roll the mixture into 50 g balls and place into a roasting pan covered with a classic napolitana tomato sauce.
- Cover with baking paper and bake in a static oven at 170°C for 20-25 minutes or until the balls have a core temperature of 60-62°C
- Take out and allow to cool.
Note:
- The recipe makes 50 balls which are approx 50 g each.
Photographs by Palle.
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