Meatballs in Carrot Sauce

I would say meatballs aren't as fashionable as they used to be; they may seem too labor-intensive in these times of immediacy, but these carrot-sauce meatballs, besides being succulent, are ready in no time if you get the whole family to help. And forming the little meat balls will give you the week's zen moment. I swear it by Snoopy.

Meatballs are one of many inventions to use up leftovers, to be honest; you don't need to make them with beef sirloin — with less noble cuts they're excellent and you can add little bits of cured meat, for example. Like all stews, they can be made in large quantities, since you're at it, and frozen for a rainy day as the Anglo-Saxons say. Cooking one day for the whole week is trendy now. And no, I will not pronounce the name of this activity in English. My grandmother used to do it — cooking for the week — she was so modern.

The recipe is by Martín Berasategui, a guarantee of quality. It requires a good beef stock; if you use homemade, all the better. And if it's a concentrated stock, even better.

Revol round porcelain plates and De Buyer stainless steel spoon

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

• 100 g onion
• 100 g leek
• 40 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 750 g ground beef
• 250 g ground Iberian pork shoulder (aguja)
• 20 g egg yolk
• 50 g whole egg
• 1 tsp. dried garlic or garlic salt
• A few sprigs of chopped parsley
• 1 slice crustless bread, soaked in a little milk
• Flour for coating
• Salt and pepper

For the carrot sauce:

• 2 onions, chopped
• 20 g crushed garlic
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 500 g carrot, diced
• 500 ml sweet white wine (moscatel, white port, etc.)
• Beef stock, as needed
• Salt

Revol round porcelain plates and De Buyer stainless steel spoon

Preparation

1. Put the bread in the milk to soak.
2. Finely chop the onion and leek. Sauté in the olive oil until translucent. Drain off the oil.
3. Place all the meatball mixture ingredients in a bowl with the sofrito and mix well until you have a smooth but firm mixture.
4. Form walnut-sized balls, coat in flour and fry in olive oil until browned on the outside. Set aside.
5. For the sauce, chop the onion. You can put it in the microwave to remove its water content, at least 10 minutes at full power until it starts to become translucent. Transfer it to a pan with the bottom covered in olive oil and finish sweating it.
6. Add the crushed garlic, give it a few stirs and add the chopped carrot and white wine. Evaporate all the wine.
7. Add the stock and cook for half an hour or as long as needed for the carrots to become tender. Blend with a hand blender to obtain a smoother or coarser sauce. Season to taste.
8. Combine the meatballs with the sauce and give them a final 10 minutes simmer. It's advisable to let the stew rest until the next day so the flavors settle.

The mix of sweet wine with the natural sweetness of the carrots gives a wonderful touch to the sauce for these meatballs. Perfect for dipping bread without stopping.