Pork and veal meatballs with toasted orecchiette

One of the most frequently asked questions of a restaurant chef is: “Where do you get your ideas?”  My usual answer to that one is:  “Anywhere I possibly can!”  Chefs are always on the lookout for the one little ingredient, little touch, or combination that can bring a dish alive.  I gave up long ago on the concept of discovering a new BIG IDEA.  I’m a tinkerer; I keep my eyes open to ideas and continue to fine-tune combinations, trying to improve the quality of flavor and execution of finished dishes.

The story of the toasted orecchiette is a perfect example of this concept.  While participating in a food conference in the 1994 in Puglia, the region of Italy that forms the heel of the boot, I dined in a very small restaurant operated by a husband and wife team.  It was in the kitchen there while observing the preparation of the meal that I noticed a trick — new to me at the time — that turned out to be common to the cooking in the region.  It involved briefly frying the already cooked pasta in olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan prior to building the rest of the sauce with other ingredients.  This step was so quick and so smoothly integrated into the chef’s succession of movements that it almost came and went without being noticed.  But it was crucial to the distinctive flavor and texture of the final dish.

In this case, it was a very simple dish of toasted orecchiette, the “little ears” pasta native to that part of Italy, with chickpeas and tomato sauce.  It was deceptively simple, and at first appeared to me to be an unlikely combination, but let me assure you that it was entirely delicious!  Orecchiette is a chewy cut of pasta, and frying it in the olive oil gives it a crispy edge that results in a unique crispy-chewy texture.

Over the years since, I have used this technique in a variety of dishes usually with great results.  But it took 13 years of tinkering for this trick to find its best application.  Last fall we started making these wonderful meatballs at the restaurant using ground pork and veal in equal parts.  To build a finished dish, I settled on sautéed maitake mushrooms, green kale (or black Tuscan kale), some roasted chicken broth and grated piave cheese.  The combination of flavors and textures turned out to be a smashing success.  The dish became so popular among our guests that it has remained on the menu at the restaurant ever since!

Making the meatballs at the restaurant is a time-consuming production mainly because we butcher, trim and grind our own meats for them.  The recipe that follows uses ground meat that you can purchase from your local butcher.  There are still several steps involved, but most of them can be done ahead of time and the final preparation of the dish is fairly straightforward — allowing you to spend time and relax with your guests prior to dinner.

The proportions of veal and pork are about 50%-50%; the veal contributing to the tenderness of the meatballs and the pork contributing more flavor.  You can experiment with this recipe and vary the proportions and the seasoning to suit your own taste.

For the meatballs (makes about 30 — 1.5 ounces each):

1 lb.  ground veal

12 oz.  ground pork

2 oz.  smoked bacon, ground

2 oz.  pork fatback, ground

1  small sweet onion, minced fine or chopped in the food-processor

2  cloves garlic, minced fine or chopped in the food–processor (together with the onion)

1t  ground coriander

1/2t  ground black pepper

1/4t  maras pepper (Turkish style paprika)

1/4t  pimentón de la vera (smoked Spanish paprika)

1/4t  ground allspice

4t  kosher salt (or to taste)

1/4C  milk

3/4C  toasted breadcrumbs

In a large mixing bowl, mix the ground meats together briefly.  The mixture does not need to be completely uniform at this point.  Remove 25% of this mixture from the bowl and place it into the food processor with the rest of the ingredients and blend well.

Place the mixed meats and the processed ingredients together in the electric mixing bowl (KitchenAid mixer) with the paddle attachment, and mix briefly at a slow speed until the ingredients are completely mixed and uniform in texture.  This should only take a minute or so.

Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until ready to form the meatballs.  I recommend shaping them into 1.5 ounce balls.  Set them aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.

The rest of the components of this dish may also be prepared ahead of time.

1 lb.  orecchiette pasta

1 lb.  maitake (hen of the woods) mushrooms, stems trimmed off

1   sweet onion, peeled and sliced thin

8   cloves garlic, minced

2  bunches black tuscan kale, stems removed, and leaves rinsed, drained and roughly chopped

4C  strong chicken broth or stock

2C  freshly grated cheese (parmesan, romano, piave, etc.)

good quality olive oil for sautéing

kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

In a large pot cook the pasta in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes.  Drain the pasta, drizzle lightly with olive oil and toss it.  Set the pasta aside until ready to use.

In a large sauté pan using some olive oil, cook the mushrooms with half of the onion and garlic until they are golden and tender, about 5-6 minutes.  Season lightly with salt and pepper as you go.  Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and allow them to cool down to room temperature.

Using the same sauté pan and 2T olive oil, cook the kale with the rest of the onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, again seasoning lightly with salt and pepper.  This should take about 4-5 minutes.  Set the kale aside on a plate to cool down to room temperature as well.

For the final preparation:

At the restaurant, we serve 4 meatballs for each guest, but many people find that to be a very generous portion.  At home, I would recommend that you use 3 per guest plus a few extra in case there are some big appetites in your group.  The rest of the meatballs can be frozen for future use if necessary.

Arrange the meatballs in a large roasting pan and pour the chicken broth over them.  Bake the meatballs in a 375F oven for 20 minutes until they are firm to the touch.  So that they brown nicely on the tops, you might want to place the roasting pan on the top shelf of the oven, or broil them for 30 seconds at the end — but keep a careful eye on them!

With 5 minutes to go, heat a large cast-iron skillet and add 4T of olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the pasta and DON’T STIR for 60 seconds; this will allow the pasta to fry in the oil and will result in the crispy golden edges that contribute to the wonderful contrast in textures.  Then add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, a pinch of ground black pepper, and stir.  Follow this immediately by stirring in the mushrooms and the kale.  When this mixture is hot, transfer it to a large, deep serving platter.  Using tongs, place the meatballs on top of the pasta mixture and then drizzle the hot chicken broth over the top.  Shower the meatballs with the grated cheese and serve immediately.

Wine pairing suggestion:  A medium-body red wine goes very well with this dish — perhaps a pinot noir or sangiovese.