Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • 400 grams Pork (minced)
  • 150 grams Caramelized Onions (about 8-10 onions worth)
  • 100 grams Breadcrumbs
  • 3 cloves Garlic (minced)
  • 1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
  • 2 tsp Red Chili Flakes
  • 1 large Egg
  • Salt (to taste)
  • 200 grams San Marzano Tomatoes (chopped)
  • 3 cloves Garlic (minced)
  • 2 tsp Dried Chili Flakes
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil

Instruction

  • This recipe assumes you've already made or bought caramelized onions, but if you haven't, I used 10 medium yellow onions for this recipe, which resulted in about 150 grams of caramelized onions. I cook them extremely slowly in my dutch oven on the lowest flame my burner has. They are dressed with a little olive oil and 60 ml of water and allowed to sweat for as long as possible. I mix them up every 15 minutes or so until they are about 80% reduced, then I watch them carefully stirring often so they do not burn until they are reduced to 10% from starting volume. You can see my full guide to caramelizing onions here.
  • In a bowl add the pork, caramelized onions, breadcrumbs, garlic, egg, salt, red chili flakes, and smoked paprika and mix thoroughly with your hands. If it seems too wet, add some more breadcrumbs. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for a half hour.
  • Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and make slightly larger than golf ball sized meatballs with your hands. Place them on the tray an inch or two apart. You should be able to get 16 meatballs out of this recipe.
  • Place in the oven for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, turn them over and let cook for another 5 in the oven. While they are cooking, do step 5.
  • In a saucepan on medium add the olive oil and the dried chili flakes. Let the cook a for about 15 seconds, until fragrant. Add the garlic and after another 15 seconds add in all the chopped tomatoes and give it a good stir.
  • Simmer the saucepan on low until the meatballs are done in the oven. When the meatballs are ready, pull them out, add them to the sauce, and agitate the pan to coat.