MOZZARELLA MEATBALLS

I´m back at Uni once again and gosh my head is tired! The start-up lectures are doomed to be heavy for the brain but these seem to be though ones. This term (I do four each term) I´m taking Management accounting and Macroeconomic principles, so interesting but hard. Only the textbooks weigh over 5 kg together…

I’m also a “buddy” for an international student from Germany. That means I should take care of her and introduce her to Jönköping and the university, I really hope she likes food the way I do so I can pick up a trick or two from the German kitchen.

So, back to the recipe. My friend told me; “this is food that makes a man fall in love with you”. Haha – I really hope I have those powers. But its big, its cheesy and the mozzarella is a nice little surprise treat in the middle. Bang on!

For the sauce;
4 large organic tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
0,5 glass of white wine
2 tbs soy-sauce (low salt)
Couple of dashes of hot sauce
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Meatballs;
600 g beef mince
1 mozzarella
0,5 cup breadcrumbs
0,5 cup milk
2 tbs smoked paprika, mild
2 tbs, ground ancho chili or other powdered chili
Salt and pepper
Basil for decoration

Do this;
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. 
Cut the tomatoes in half and lay them in a ovenproof dish. Finely grate the garlic over the tomatoes, drizzle som olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. 

Place the dish in the oven and let the tomatoes bake until the edges start browning up. Put them into a medium pan making sure to get all the juices and garlic into the pan. Blitz them up using a mixer or mash them carefully with a fork. Add in the soy, white wine and hot sauce and let it cook down and thicken util it reaches the preferred consistency. 

Start making the meatballs by pouring in the breadcrumbs into a bowl, add in the spices and then add in the milk. Let the breadcrumbs absorb the milk and then mix in the minced beef. 

Cut the mozzarella into small cubes. Take a golfball-sized amount of minced beef and flatten it out, put a pice of mozzarella in the middle and fold over the mince until it covers the mozzarella. This is easier with slightly wet hands. Try to make sure the beef covers all of the mozzarella so it doesn’t leak out into the sauce. 

Brown the meatballs in a pan with some butter and then pour the tomato sauce over. Cover with a lid and let it simmer until the meatballs are cooked all the way through. Serve with basil and pasta.