Pork & Fennel Mushroom Meatballs
After a fantastic day cooking in the Smeg Kitchen at The Jones Family complex at the Auckland Home Show, Simon was inspired to share his new recipes for perfect summer snacks!
Ingredients
MEATBALLS
- 50g (¼ cup) duck fat
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 80g Shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
- ¾ cup walnuts, soaked in water overnight then drained
- 2 tbsp Simon Gault Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 150g Pork & Fennel sausage meat, skin removed
- 2 tbsp finely chopped Italian parsley
TOMATO SAUCE
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves (8grams), finely sliced
- 1 onion (140 grams), finely diced
- 1 handful of oregano (5grams), roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 550 grams tomato passata
- 2 X 400 gram tins of Italian skinless tomatoes
- 1 tbsp mānuka honey
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 tsp cracked pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- Handful of fresh basil leaves
Method
MEATBALLS METHOD:
In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté duck fat, garlic, celery and mushrooms for 7-9 minutes, until soft and tender. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
In a food processor, pulse walnuts to a fine crumb. Add Italian seasoning, pepper, sausage meat and sautéed mushroom mixture and pulse to combine thoroughly but so it still has some texture. Transfer to a bowl and mix in chopped parsley.
Scoop up 1 tablespoon of the mixture, roll into a walnut-size ball then transfer to prepared tray. Repeat process until complete and ready to cook. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden.
Remove tray from oven and allow meatballs to rest for 15 minutes before serving as a snack, or as a meal with homemade tomato sauce.
TOMATO SAUCE
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the garlic and onion until lightly golden brown. Then add the oregano, bay leaves and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the passata, tinned tomatoes, honey, stock and cracked pepper then simmer on a gentle heat for 45 minutes to an hour until you have a sauce consistency. Add 1 tsp of salt.
Just prior to serving add the fresh basil leaves.
Any leftover freeze in zip lock bags.
