Genoese meatballs in sauce
- liguriainthekitchen
Meatballs with creamy sauce
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: 30 min
- Cook time: 60 min
- Serving: 8
- Cost: Low
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PRESENTATION
Meatballs with Creamy Sauce started with a request: Italian actor Luca Argentero named Italian meatballs in tomato sauce as his favorite dish on the vodcast Discorsi in osteria, and chef Cesare Battisti took that as a brief. His version reworks the grandmother's meatball-in-sauce without losing what makes the original worth eating—the comfort of a slow-cooked tomato sugo and beef meatballs tender enough to pull apart with a fork. It is home cooking taken seriously, with each element considered rather than assumed.
Battisti builds the cooking base with white wine and butter, pulling the tomato sauce toward something denser and more velvety than a standard sugo. That richness is not decorative: the beef meatballs absorb it as the dish finishes, staying juicy all the way through rather than tightening up as they sit. Scarpetta is essentially mandatory here—keep a few slices of toasted bread close for dragging through whatever is left in the pan. Mashed potatoes work just as well alongside, giving the sauce somewhere to settle and making the whole plate feel complete.
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INGREDIENTS
- For about 35 meatballs
- Ground beef 2.2 lbs (1 kg)
- Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese 7 oz (200 g)
- Bread crumbs 1 cup (100 g)
- Eggs 2
- Whole milk 4 tbsp (60 g)
- Nutmeg to taste
- Fine salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- For the sauce
- Tomato purée 3 cups (700 g)
- Garlic 1 clove
- Basil to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil to taste
- Fine salt to taste
- To cook the meatballs
- Dry white wine 1 glass (150 g)
- Butter 6 tbsp (80 g)
- Extra virgin olive oil to taste
- For garnish
- Parsley to taste
Preparation
How to prepare Meatballs with creamy sauce
To make the meatballs with creamy sauce, start with the sauce: in a pan, warm a drizzle of olive oil with the garlic clove 1, then pour in the tomato passata 2 and add enough water to rinse the carton. Add salt and basil 3 and cook for about 30 minutes over medium-low heat.
Meanwhile, cut the bread crumb (the inner part) into cubes 4. Transfer the crumb to a bowl, cover with the milk 5 and let it soak, making sure it is evenly moistened 6.
Put the ground meat in a separate bowl, season with salt 7 and pepper, then add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano 8 and the eggs 9.
Flavor with a pinch of nutmeg 10, then add the squeezed bread crumb 11 and knead with your hands until you obtain a homogeneous mixture 12.
Take about 1.4 oz (40 g) of mixture at a time and form small meatballs 13, placing them on a tray lined with parchment paper as you go; with these quantities you'll get about 35 14. You're ready to cook: heat a drizzle of oil in a large nonstick skillet and place the meatballs in it 15.
Brown the meatballs on all sides 16. When they are evenly colored, deglaze with the white wine 17 and let it evaporate completely, then add the butter 18 and let it melt.
At this point pour in the tomato sauce 19 and continue cooking over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes 20. Your meatballs with creamy sauce are ready to serve, garnished with a sprig of parsley 21!
Storage
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