Watch Off Duty Chef Wednesdays at 20:00 on RTÉ One.
Ingredients
Serves 6
- 400g beef mince
- 400g pork mince
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 medium onions
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp allspice powder
- 15g sea salt
- 6 tbsp bread crumbs, soaked in 100ml milk
- 5 tbsp malt vinegar
- 500ml cream
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Handful dill
- 1 cucumber
- 2 tbsp malt vinegar
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Sea salt
Method
- Start by finely dicing your onion, add it to a pan with some plain oil for sweat for 2minsuntil they just begin to soften, but don't begin to colour. Allow to cool.
- In a bowl, mix the beef and pork mince, egg yolks, cooked onion, white pepper, all spiceand salt. Squeeze any excess milk from the breadcrumbs and add this before mixing thoroughly.
- At this point, wash your hands. Now keep them wet while you roll the meatballs to make life easier. They should be golf ball in size.
- For the cucumbers, slice them as thin as possible and place on a tray. Season with thevinegar, sugar and salt and allow to marinade at room temperature for 30mins.
- Place a heavy-based, non-stick pan on the heat and add some plain oil with a few knobs of butter, brown the meatballs on both sides for 2-3 mins before removing onto a plate.
- In the same pan, add the vinegar and cream, scrape the caramelised meaty bits from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon. Add the meatballs back into the sauce and reduce over a high heat so the meatballs cook through and the sauce thickens andglazes them. Turn them every minute as they cook
- Check the meatballs are cooked through by studding with a metal skewer, if the skewer is hot to touch after 3 seconds then they are ready. You can add a touch more cream and keep reducing if needed.
- Remove the pan from the heat and finish with some lemon juice, the cucumber pickleslices, black pepper and ripped dill.
