Description
Hellenic comfort comes alive with soutzoukakia, a beloved Greek meatball dish rich with cumin and red wine. Spicy, juicy morsels nestled in a robust tomato sauce will transport you to Mediterranean culinary landscapes.
Ingredients
Scale
- 800 g (28 oz) ground beef
- 2 eggs
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, grated
- 2 tsps ground cumin
- 2 tsps cumin
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 5 slices stale bread soaked in red wine and squeezed dry (or 1 cup breadcrumbs)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 cups tomato juice (passata) or tinned chopped tomatoes (800 g or 28 oz)
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Preparation: Meticulously combine ground meat with herbs, breadcrumbs, and spices using gentle hand movements, ensuring homogeneous blending. Refrigerate for one hour to intensify flavor integration and meat structure.
- Shaping: Extract meat mixture and craft uniform torpedo-shaped meatballs, maintaining consistent size and weight for balanced cooking performance.
- Cooking Method: Opt for oven-roasting at 375°F until exterior transforms into golden-brown perfection or utilize skillet with minimal oil for crisp caramelized surface.
- Sauce Foundation: Sauté finely diced onions in olive oil until becoming translucent and releasing delicate aromatics.
- Flavor Layering: Introduce tomato paste, cumin, salt, and pepper, stirring persistently to develop robust and concentrated taste dimensions.
- Aromatic Enhancement: Incorporate minced garlic, allowing essential oils to permeate the culinary landscape and create intricate flavor complexity.
- Liquid Integration: Deglaze pan with wine, then merge tomato juice, chopped tomatoes, nuanced sugar, and bay leaf. Reduce temperature and simmer sauce until achieving desired viscosity and profound richness.
- Meatball Immersion: Gently submerge prepared meatballs into simmering sauce, enabling liquid absorption and flavor amplification.
- Final Cooking Stage: Tenderly cook on low heat for approximately 30 minutes, intermittently adjusting seasoning to optimize taste profile.
- Presentation: Serve steaming hot accompanied by complementary sides like fluffy rice or creamy mashed potatoes, elegantly garnishing with fresh herb sprinkles.
Notes
- Meat Mixing Mastery: Use fingertips to blend ingredients thoroughly, ensuring uniform texture and flavor distribution for optimal meatball quality.
- Chilling Technique: Refrigerate meat mixture for one hour to enhance flavor infusion, improve meat binding, and make shaping easier.
- Consistent Cooking: Roll meatballs to uniform size and weight, guaranteeing even cooking and preventing undercooked or overcooked portions.
- Sauce Development Secret: Build deep flavor layers by slowly sweating onions, toasting spices, and allowing aromatics to release their essential oils before adding liquids.
- Prep Time: 70 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Greek
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5
- Calories: 570
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 500 mg
- Fat: 30 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 18 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 42 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 32 g
- Cholesterol: 120 mg