Veal Meatballs

I think the stigma attached to eating veal is slowly disappearing in the UK and some supermarkets are starting to stock various cuts. But it's still sometimes hard to find veal, unless you go to the butchers. If you want it delivered with your weekly online shop, Ocado is your best bet as they have veal mince, escalopes, chops and various other cuts.

British Rose Veal in the UK is not only ethical to eat but should be encouraged so that young male calves are consumed by the British public instead of people on the continent. The transport conditions and the feeding laws have changed for the better since 2006 so as to give these animals a fighting chance but if they are not in demand for their meat, they get slaughtered at a young age as they cannot produce milk or sold to veal eating nations in Europe.

Veal is a tender and delicious young beef and can be substituted in all beef recipes. Veal mince is used along with other mince in many Italian meat sauces and you can certainly use veal with any other type of mince [like pork/lamb] in this meatball recipe. My recipe uses pine nuts and raisins which gives the meatballs a really pleasing nutty texture and sweetness.

Meatball mix:

Veal mince
Handful of pine nuts
Handful of raisins
Chopped fresh parsley
Sprinkle of dried oregano
1 crushed clove of garlic
1 large red chilli deseeded and finely chopped
4/5 tbs of ground almonds to dry the mix and bind
1 whole egg to bind
Salt and black pepper

Mix and roll into balls then chill in the fridge for at least 30min while you get the tomato based sauce on the hob.

Sauce ingredients:

2 leeks finely chopped
2 celery sticks finely chopped
2/3 carrots finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 brown onions finely chopped
Thyme, Rosemary and Bay leaves

Chopped Tomatoes
2 pints of chicken stock
Tomato puree - 2/3 tbs
Chopped anchovy fillets x 2/3
salt, pepper and sugar

Fry the vegetables and herbs in olive oil for 30min on a very low heat with a pinch of salt.
Add the anchovies, tomato puree and fry for 2-3 minutes
Then add the stock and the chopped tomatoes and a tsp of sugar

Simmer the sauce for 45min

Add the meatballs into the sauce when it's thickened and the oils have risen to the top. Then simmer gently for 30min. Take the pot off the heat and gently stir the meatballs around. Cover and set aside to rest.

Garnish with parsley and then serve with a crisp green side salad, maybe some bread to mop up the sauce or serve on pasta. It's a big batch so a container load can be frozen.. I always like to have some extra balls in the fridge, in case of meatball emergencies.*

[*meatball emergency e.g when someone drops round for supper and there are only 4 meatballs left in the pasta dish .. you need extra meatballs & sauce or else there will be disappointment all round...This is classed as a middle class crisis]