How to make pork meatballs

Near where I live is a branch of a German-owned supermarket chain called Aldi. I'm actually a big fan of Aldi, much of whose merchandise belies the store's "pile it high, sell it cheap" image - their olives and red peppers in olive oil are fantastic, and their Reggiano parmesan is the cheapest and best in town. They also do some very tasty "frikadelle", which in case you've never heard the term is German for "rissoles" or "meatballs". However, my one reservation about Aldi's frikadelle is the sheer number of ingredients, which includes the usual suspects such as antioxidants, flavourings and E numbers.

So one day I decided to see if I could recreate the frikadelle, minus the additives. My first attempt was pretty lame - I mixed pork mince with an egg and some breadcrumbs, plus enough flour to give the correct solid-but-moist consistency, formed into meatballs and fried in sunflower oil on both sides for 20 minutes. The texture was fine but the taste was to say the least, bland.

However, I have had several more goes since then and have come up with something altogether more palatable - downright tasty, in fact!  Have a go at making them yourself, and see what you think. I don't use very much salt in my cooking so if you find they're not salty enough for you, you can always add a pinch of salt next time you make them.  Or use a bit more soy sauce.

Pork meatballs (serves two)

Ingredients

• Eight ounces or 500 g of pork mince
• A couple of handfuls of oats
• Half a medium sized onion, chopped roughly
• A raw egg
• Handful of fresh herbs including sage, parsley and thyme
• Small dash of soy sauce
• Black or white pepper to taste
• A couple of dried chilli flakes, cut tiny and minus the seeds unless you like to have the roof of your mouth blown off (optional)
• White flour - about a tablespoon, or enough to get the right consistency (see below)

Method

Place the pork mince and egg in a bowl. In a food processor, mince up the oats, onion and herbs until you get a slightly moist, slightly greenish looking mixture. Add this to the pork/egg, along with the soy sauce, pepper and chilli flakes if you're using them. Mix well with your hands. You will almost certainly find that the resulting mixture is too moist to make into meatballs, which is where the flour comes in. Add the flour a tiny bit at a time and keep mixing it in with your hands all the while. When you've got something that's cohesive but still reasonably moist, form into eight meatballs (or four, if you like 'em big) and place back in the bowl. Stick the bowl in the fridge for an hour or so - this will make the meatballs easier to fry.

To fry the meatballs, heat up some sunflower oil in a skillet/frying pan and fry on both sides for about twenty minutes altogether, until light brown. To prevent the meatballs from sticking or burning, you might like to add a tablespoon of water or stock to the bottom of the pan every so often.

The great thing about these is that they're really versatile - you can serve them with spaghetti and tomato sauce, with couscous and salad, or with baked/mashed potato and whatever vegetable you happen to have handy. And you can eat them cold too. Bon appetit!

© Empress Felicity April 2010