Meatball Sliders

 

Makes several sliders

These too cool for school sliders are inspired by one of the most popular items on the menu at Little Owl, a tiny village bistro in the West Village. Arriving spiked on little wooden skewers, they make the perfect finger food.

For the greedy, just make bigger ones, but be sure to let the sauce dribble down your wife-beater t-shirt so that everyone can see what a slob you really are.

Ingredients

For the Meatballs:
1 small onion
a small bunch of flat leaf parsley
500 grams veal mince
1 egg
Sea salt
Freshly grated black pepper
55 grams flour
4 tbsp olive oil for frying

For the Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tin plum tomatoes
1 scant tsp fennel seeds
1 handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
sea salt and freshly ground plack pepper

To Serve:
Olive oil rolls or ciabatta
a few leaves of rocket

Instructions

Place the onion into the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the lamb and parsley leaves and pulse until well blended. Add the egg, salt and pepper to taste and pulse again until well mixed together. Note: If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this by hand in a mixing bowl, just mince or grate the onion finely before mixing it with the other ingredients.

Place the flour in a shallow bowl. With your hands, take some of the mixture and roll it between your palms to form a golf ball-sized ball. Roll the ball in the flour and tap off the excess. Place the floured ball on a large, clean plate. Repeat until you have used up all the veal mince mixture.

Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes before frying.

In a large, wide frying pan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the meatballs and fry until well browned on all sides. Remove the meatballs with tongs or a slotted spoon and place on a clean plate.

Make the sauce by adding the 2 tablepoons of oil to the pan. Add the garlic and sauté briefly. Add the tomatoes and fennel seeds and stir with a wooden spoon to break up. Adjust heat so that tomatoes reach a gentle simmer. Add the meatballs to the tomatoes and stir once gently so that they are nestled and coated in the tomato mixture. Leave to simmer gently for 25 minutes. The sauce should be thick and cling to the meatballs. Switch off the heat, and stir in the basil. Allow to cool slightly.

Split the rolls or foccacia and place a few meatballs inside each. Spoon over some of the sauce and a few leaves of rocket. At the top lid of roll or foccacia and secure with a wooden skewer.

Serve warm.

Next recipe…

Jennifer Klinec from Eat Drink Talk has kindly agreed to provide Urban Junkies readers with mouthwatering recipes and foodtips.

To learn more, classes at Eat Drink Talk are held in Jennifer's beautiful loft in Clerkenwell, packed with information and useful tips, and you'll get to sample all of the delicious dishes prepared during class.

 

by JK

In collaboration with Eat Drink Talk

Comments:

Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.