Sophie Grigson's Orecchiette al Primitivo di Manduria
Sophie Grigson explores cooking with meat Puglian style. She buys beef from her butcher to make orecchiette pasta with meatballs at home.
Featured In:
Beef Recipes
Ingredients
Meatball Mixture:
The Rest:
To serve:
Method
- Mix the minced beef, cheese, breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, egg and pepper thoroughly with your hands. Really work and knead it well, to make a cohesive rollable mix. Don’t add salt yet – the cheese will probably have already done the job. Check this by rolling a small knob of the mixture into a mini-patty and frying in a miserly smear of oil. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.
- Roll the meatball mixture into small balls. Size-wise we’re talking around 2-2.5 cms in diameter.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a wide frying pan over a moderately lively heat. Add the meatballs (you should hear a hissing sizzle as they hit the oil – if you don’t then it isn’t hot enough). Fry for a few minutes without disturbing, then shake the pan gently, to roll them over. Fry until browned, scoop out and set aside.
- Return the pan to a gentle heat, add 2 more tablespoons olive oil and the onion. Cook gently for about 10 minutes until very, very tender.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil, and salt generously. Add the orecchiette and simmer until al dente (check packet instructions for timing). Scoop out a cup of cooking water and reserve. Drain the pasta.
- Reheat the onion if necessary, pour in the red wine and let it sizzle for a minute or two until reduced by about half. Tip in the meatballs and any juice they’ve given off. Heat through, stirring so that the balls are all dyed a lush dark purple brown. Now pile in the cooked pasta and 2 or 3 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water. Stir so that the pasta, too, is stained purple. Add a little more of the reserved cooking water if it seems dry but remember that it is not a dish that should be swamped in sauce.
- Serve hot from the pan, scattered with parsley, and with oodles of freshly grated cheese.
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