‘Soak the bread in warm milk for 10 minutes ...” As recipe instructions go, this one is particularly reassuring. At this time of year, when it is cold and the gaps under our doors are letting in all sorts of unwelcome gusts, I would quite like to be soaked in warm milk much of the time. It is also reassuring because the soaking of bread in warm milk is likely to signal the start of a meatball recipe, for which the next step is adding minced beef to the soft mush of bread. You will be required to squash everything together with your hands – which means it inevitably squishes through your fingers – and to roll lumps between your palms until they resemble smooth and satisfying balls.
I have written about meatballs before – twice, actually – the second time after discovering (thanks to a local trattoria called Il Piccolo Alpino) that poaching meatballs in a tomato sauce without preliminary browning is the secret to making them tender. And I still think this is the best way – unless they are winter meatballs with cabbage, this week’s recipe, which is inspired by the reassuring Marcella Hazan. Here, frying is important.
Before frying, though, resting. In the introduction to his book of essays, the Italian food writer and historian Massimo Montanari recounts a time he made meatballs. He describes how he mixes the meat, cooked cardoons, breadcrumbs, egg and parmesan together; how, when the mixture is done, he shapes the polpettes and arranges them neatly on a plate.
At this point, his wife suggests he leave the meatballs to sit for a few hours before cooking them. It then occurs to Montanari that letting the food rest before cooking is similar to what happens in our minds when we work out an idea. Ideas are the “result of experience, encounters, reflections, suggestions: many ingredients that come together into a new thought, but before that can happen, it is useful to let the thoughts rest, to firm up”. In short, he decides that the resting of the meatballs is like the resting of thoughts. After a rest, they simply turn out better.
He is right, of course, about both ideas – rushing in to fry a new one is rarely advisable, especially at this time of year (let them simmer until February) – and meatballs, which are always better after a rest. It is with resting that the milky bread (a thick slice in five tablespoons of milk) and egg (one, beaten) plump up, expand like a foam filler and soften the texture; the parmesan (three tablespoons) seasons the meat (500g minced beef and 50g finely chopped pancetta); the onion (a small one, diced) infuses everything with its savoury base note, salt and pepper, too. This amount of mixture should yield 22 meatballs. I don’t roll them in dry breadcrumbs, rather leave them to rest for at least two hours, then fry them gently in a good amount of olive oil. Once they are browned all over and glistening, I lift the meatballs out of the pan and get on with the cabbage.
Unlike me, savoy cabbages appreciate these cold days, and are at their best at this time of year. Quarter and shred a medium-sized cabbage, and put it, along with a peeled and crushed clove of garlic, in the pan you have just taken the meatballs out of (which will be thick with oil, dark juices and nubs of meat). Turn for a few minutes, then cover with a lid and cook until the cabbage has wilted into a tender slump. To finish, you add 200g chopped plum tomatoes to the cabbage, then the meatballs, and simmer everything for another 15 minutes.
The cabbage slumps further, its green fading and its porcelain-like ribs becoming indistinguishable in the muddle of meatballs and flecks of red. This is when it becomes deeply, reassuringly tasty, as do the meatballs, richly meaty from the browning, and having taken on the sweetly savoury juices of the cabbage. It is a dish of pure directness, this one, a winter pleasure. Serve warm rather than hot, alone, with bread or – more reassuring words – buttery mashed potato.
Winter meatballs with cabbage
Prep 2 hr 30 min (includes resting)
Cook 35 min
Serves 4–6
1 thick slice of white bread, without crusts
5 tbsp milk, warmed until tepid
500g beef, minced
50g pancetta, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
30g grated parmesan
1 egg
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil
1 savoy cabbage
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
200g plum tomatoes, chopped (ie, half a tin)
Soak the bread in the warm milk for 10 minutes. Mix the now mushy bread with the beef, pancetta, onion, parmesan, egg and a good amount of salt and pepper, and knead gently until everything is combined.
Scoop out large, walnut-sized lumps of mixture and shape into balls, roughly four centimetres in diameter. Leave them to rest for two hours, if possible.
In a non-stick frying pan large enough to accommodate all the balls in a single layer, coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, put on a medium flame and add the meatballs, nudging them gently so they brown all sides. Lift the meatballs from the pan on to a warm plate.
Cut the cabbage into quarters, cut away its core and then shred each into thick slices. There should still be some oil in the pan (if not, add more) put it back on the flame. Add the garlic, the cabbage and a pinch of salt. Stir and turn the cabbage with wooden spoon until it wilts. Cover the pan with lid, lower the flame and cook for 15 minutes, or until cabbage is very tender. Taste and add salt and pepper as required.
Add the tomatoes to the cabbage, cook for a few minutes, then add the meatballs, stir, cover and simmer gently for another 15 minutes. Serve warm, with mash, bread or rice.
