Gratinated meat and ricotta meatballs

You can give a different touch to an everyday, traditional dish like meatballs in sauce very easily: this recipe for meat and ricotta cheese meatballs au gratin turn out incredibly tasty. A complete dish that both kids and adults will love at home!

This is how we celebrate Le Creuset Week that we have started and that will be in effect until next Sunday, February 28. We think it’s a great way to show that long-lasting, unique pieces like cocottes will help you make the most everyday, traditional recipes with excellent results.

In this case we use the low casserole, to evenly distribute the cocottes over a wide surface, but you can also make it in a casserole traditional one.

Le Creuset low cocotte, Shallow Casserole style

Ingredients

For the meatballs and the ricotta:

• 500 g of ground beef and pork mix
• 240 g of ricotta cheese
• 50 g of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 beaten egg
• 5 g of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp dried oregano or 2 tsp fresh oregano
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• Olive oil

For the basil tomato sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 400 g crushed tomatoes
• 5 g fresh basil
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 200 g grated mozzarella cheese
• 50 g grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. To prepare the meatballs, preheat the oven to 200 °C. Add the breadcrumbs to a grinder with a metal blade (a mincer or a food processor). Grind until fine.
2. Place the breadcrumbs in a large mixing bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, Parmesan, egg, parsley, fennel, oregano and pepper and mix. Add the ground meat mixture and combine everything. Shape the meat into meatballs of approximately 3 cm, about 12 balls (you can do this with a couple of spoons, with your hands, or using croquette and meatball tongs).
3. Place everything in the Le Creuset low Shallow Casserole, in the preheated oven. Do not remove until the mixture is well cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove everything from the oven and set aside on a plate. The Shallow Casserole should be left free for the sauce, so do not clean it. Do not turn off the oven.
4. For the sauce, add the olive oil in the same Shallow Casserole where you cooked the meatballs. When hot, add the onion and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Sauté until the garlic is cooked but not browned, about 1 minute.
5. Add the tomatoes to the sauté. Mix everything and simmer the sauce until it reduces slightly, about 5 minutes.
6. Add the basil and sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the meatballs into the sauté and mix everything with the sauce.
7. Cover the meatballs with the mozzarella and Parmesan and put them in the preheated oven. Bake until the cheese melts and bubbles, approximately 10 minutes. There you go, enjoy!