Pork Meat­balls with a Creme Fraiche, Toma­to and Fresh Basil Sauce

Pork Meat­balls with a Creme Fraiche, Toma­to and Fresh Basil Sauce

(serves 8)

This dish was inspired by com­bin­ing the ideas behind two of my favorite meat­ball dish­es: one is fresh­ly-minced chick­en in a sour cream, brandy and papri­ka sauce, and the oth­er, clas­sic Ital­ian pork meat­balls.  I thought the creami­ness of the first sauce would be a nice addi­tion to the tra­di­tion­al toma­to fla­vors of the sec­ond sauce, and I was right.  This is a rich, cel­e­bra­to­ry dish, full of Ital­ian fla­vors but with the added lux­u­ry of creme fraiche.

for the meatballs:

about 2 lbs/1 kg  bone­less pork shoul­der (joint or steaks)

about 1 1/2 cups/350 ml milk

about 1 1/2 cup/80g Panko (crisp) breadcrumbs

1 tbsp dried sage

2 tsps gar­lic powder

2 tsps sea salt

good grind fresh black pepper

for the sauce:

3 tbsps olive oil

6 cloves gar­lic, minced

1 small white onion, minced

2 tbsps Ital­ian seasoning

1/2 cup red wine

3 soup-size tins whole tomatoes

2 tbsps toma­to puree

1 1/4 cups/300 ml half-fat creme fraiche

splash of sin­gle cream

hot water to thin

large hand­ful fresh basil, snipped into ribbons

spaghet­ti

grat­ed parmesan

To make the meat­balls, cut the pork into 2‑inch chunks and dis­card large areas of fat, but leave some fat.  Pass through a coarse blade of a meat grinder.  Mix the milk, bread­crumbs and sea­son­ings and add the pork.  Mix all well, adding more milk to make the mix­ture as wet as pos­si­ble but still able to hold togeth­er in a ball.

Heat the olive oil in a large fry­ing pan and fry the gar­lic, onions and sea­son­ings, till gar­lic is soft.  Pour in wine and stir well.  Add toma­toes, crush­ing them in your hand as you go along.  Add toma­to puree and stir well.  Add creme fraiche and cream and sim­mer over a low heat for 10 minutes.

Form the meat­ball mix­ture into golf-size balls and drop gen­tly into the bub­bling sauce.  Cook for about 15 min­utes, then turn gen­tly over and cook for a fur­ther 15 min­utes.  At this point you may turn the heat off and let the fla­vors meld, if you have time, but it is not necessary.

When you are ready to eat, scat­ter the basil over the dish and turn the heat to low while you cook the spaghet­ti.  Turn the meat­balls once more and stir the sauce around the meatballs.

Serve with the spaghet­ti and grat­ed cheese.