By far, this is the dish I ask for most often, when my husband is cooking. Because of the grilled paprika in the sauce it tastes very rich. Tomato sauce and mozzarella go beautifully together. But, when you add zesty meatballs, fresh bread and just a few leaves of fresh basil, it is match made in food heaven, literally!
Meatball sandwich with mozzarella and basil
Course: Savory dishesServings
4-6
servingsTotal time
1
hour10
minutesIngredients
6 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 fresh chili or ground
1 grilled paprika
1 dl red wine
3 cans of tomatoes + 1 filled with water
Salt
Pepper
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of basil
2 garlic cloves
1 egg
500 gr ground meat (half pork, half beef)
100 gr breadcrumbs
100 gr Parmesan cheese
1 lemon juice and zest
4-6 ciabatta loafs
2-3 tbsp flour
4 mozzarella cheeses
Process
- Sauce
- Finely chop carrots, onion and celery. Cut grilled paprika into smaller strips.
- In a large pan heat up some oil then add the chopped vegetables and cook on medium heat until they start to soften a bit.
- Add chili, grilled paprika, tomatoes and water. Season to taste. Add a splash of wine and bring to simmering point. Continue cooking for around 15min.
- Using hand blender, blend the sauce until smooth.
- Meatballs
- Finely chop parsley and half of basil. Transfer to a big bowl.
- Finely chop garlic and add to the bowl.
- Add egg, breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, salt, pepper, meat and some oil, lemon juice and zest. Mix using your hands.
- Form meatballs roughly all same size.
- Lightly coat the meatballs in flour.
- In a pan, heat up some oil. Add meatballs but don’t overcrowd the pan. On a medium to high heat, cook meatballs until they get brown.
- Transfer meatballs to the sauce. Bring to simmering point and simmer for around 15 min or until meatballs are cooked through.
- Cut each loaf in half lengthwise. Cover most of one half of the bread with sauce, follow up with 3-4 meatballs and top each meatball with a slice of mozzarella.
- Place in the preheated oven at 200°C, under the broiler, for 2-3 min or until cheese has melted.
- Serve with some basil leaves on top of each meatball.
Recipe Video
Enjoy!
M