COOK THIS BOOK
Lisa Gnat and Julie Albert show you a meatball recipe that will make you want to lick the plate,
If there were ever a poor meatball not to lose on top of spaghetti, it’s this mozzarella-stuffed, red wine saucesimmered meatball.
Toronto sisters Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat have returned to the kitchen bookshelf with Lick Your Plate, which is exactly what dinner party guests will want to do when they try the mozzarella-stuffed meatballs in red wine tomato sauce.
It’s one of the sisters’ “Grade-A” meat dishes in the new cookbook, which is lauded by celebrities including musician Jon Bon Jovi and Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander. The book: It’s no surprise sisters Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat collaborate so often — they live five blocks from each other in Toronto.
Together they run BiteMeMore.com and with Lick Your Plate they add a third cookbook to their repertoire. This one spans 160 recipes and 11 chapters, such as “No Fork Required Appetizers,” “Crunch Time Salads” and “No Bones About It Fish.” The quote: “With six teenagers between us, we understand time crunches, insatiable appetites and picky palates.” The tester: Putting me in the Star’s test kitchen is a stretch. Give me a box of frozen chicken fingers and I’ll feel like a pro but, in this kitchen, I’m an amateur.
This recipe was easy enough for me to master. Recipes I’m dying to make: Mac & cheese cups with buttery bacon crumble, maple Sriracha-baked chicken wings, easy paella with chicken & peppers, and saucy “sloppy Joes” with Memphis slaw.
Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs in Red Wine Tomato Sauce
Star Tested
There’s nothing more classically Italian than spaghetti and meatballs. But the sisters’ recipe puts a fun twist on the staple: the oozy surprise of the mozzarella stuffing.
I regret not putting larger cubes of mozzarella inside the meatballs and suggest the reader try cheese cubes of about 1 square inch.
Red wine tomato sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil 1 small red onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 cup (125 mL) dry red wine (I used merlot) 3 tbsp (44 mL) tomato paste 1 tsp (5 mL) sugar 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) kosher salt 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) freshly ground black pepper 1 cup (250 mL) beef broth 2 28-oz cans whole plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano Heat olive oil over medium heat in large pot.
Add onion, garlic and cook for 3 minutes until softened.
Add red wine, cook for 2-3 more minutes to reduce.
Stir in tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper until combined.
Add beef broth, tomatoes, breaking up tomatoes with wooden spoon. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes.
Mozzarella-stuffed meatballs
1 cup (250 mL) bread crumbs, preferably Japanese-style panko bread crumbs 1 cup (250 mL) freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 cup (250 mL) ricotta cheese 2 eggs 1 tsp (5 mL) dried Italian seasoning 1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) freshly ground black pepper 1 large garlic clove, minced 1-1/2 pounds (680 g) lean ground beef 1 pound (450 g) ground veal 4 oz (113 g) mozzarella cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut mozzarella cheese into bitesized cubes. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, eggs, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic in large bowl.
Add ground beef and veal, mixing thoroughly by hand.
Scoop out 1/4 cup of mixture and roll into ball. Press one mozzarella cube in the centre and roll again to seal.
Place meatball on baking sheet. Repeat until meat mixture is all used.
Bake for 12 minutes, flip and bake for another 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and place the meatballs in the tomato sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve with spaghetti (and lots of Parmesan cheese). Makes about 25 large meatballs. jforani@thestar.ca