Cheesy Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 300-400 g ground beef meat
• 1/4 onion
• 70 g cheese
• parsley
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 1 egg
• 50 ml bread crumbs
• 250 ml water
• 8 spoonfuls tomato paste
• oregano
• basil
• black pepper
• olive oil

Method

Dice the onion and garlic finely — the smaller they are, the more evenly they distribute through the meat. Tear the parsley by hand rather than chopping; a knife bruises the leaves and dulls the flavour. Grate the cheese on the coarse side of the box grater so it holds its shape when wrapped, rather than melting into the meat mixture before you've even started cooking.

Combine the beef, breadcrumbs, egg, onion, garlic, and parsley in a bowl. The breadcrumbs act as a binder and — crucially — they absorb and hold moisture, keeping the meatballs tender rather than dense. Season aggressively with salt and black pepper, then mix until just combined. Overworking the meat toughens it through gluten development in the breadcrumbs. Take a cube of cheese, encase it completely in a ball of meat roughly the size of a walnut, and set aside. Work quickly so the cheese doesn't warm and start to soften.

Heat a wide, heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat with a shallow pour of olive oil — enough to coat the base. Once the oil shimmers, place the meatballs in without crowding; they should sizzle on contact. Leave them undisturbed for two minutes so the exterior develops a fond on the base of the pan. Roll them gently every two minutes until they're coloured on all sides (around eight minutes total). The meat-cookery|browning creates aromatics that will underpin the sauce through the Maillard reaction.

Dissolve the tomato paste in the cold water — a paste added dry will clump and scorch. Pour this mixture into the pan, scraping the fond from the base with a wooden spoon. Add dried oregano and basil, cracking the oregano between your fingers as you sprinkle to release its oils. Lower the heat to medium-low. The meatballs will continue cooking in the residual heat and the gentle braising|simmer of the sauce, the cheese inside softening and binding the interior as the tomato acidity works into the meat. Roll them every couple of minutes so they cook evenly and absorb the sauce. After ten minutes, taste the sauce and adjust salt. The meatballs are done when a skewer pushed through one meets no resistance at the centre.

Serve straight from the pan with bread to soak the sauce, or over pasta.