RECIPE: MEATY BEEF BALLS AND TAGLIATELLE

Matt’s Meaty Beef Balls and tagliatelle

Ingredients:

Pasta for Tagliatelle
280g grade “00” pasta flour

2 medium eggs
1 medium egg yolk
Flour for dusting and rolling

Meatballs
500g lean beef mince
1 medium egg
1 level tbsp dried oregano
20-30 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
1 large garlic clove

Tomato sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
25g butter
2 tins of chopped tomatoes (drained)
1 small glass of red wine (any will do)
2 tsp of oregano
2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh basil
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, grated.(level tsp of ground ginger would suffice)
12 chestnut mushrooms, finely shopped (Chestnut mushrooms have a greater flavour)
1 garlic clove finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Directions:

To make the pasta: Begin by mixing the eggs and yolk with the flour in a large
mixing bowl. Use a strong wooden spoon to mix into a fine dough. Additional flour
may be needed if consistency is too sticky, likewise, a little olive oil with help a
dough that’s too dry. Once both ingredients appear well mixed, turn out onto a lightly
floured surface and continue kneading until a good, soft and smooth dough is formed.
Continue to knead for around 10 minutes. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate.

To make the meatballs: Place the mince in a large enough mixing bowl and loosen
the meat up. Add a good helping of sea salt and a generous pinch of ground pepper.
(Do not be afraid to add too much seasoning. Too little will leave the meat lacking
and bland)
Mix well with your hands.
Add the oregano and again, mix well with your hands.
Add the fresh basil and mix well.
Now add the garlic and olive oil and give one final good mix with your hands.
Cover and refrigerate. Ideally over night, but if in a rush, 30 minutes will suffice)

Please note: It’s important to mix after the addition of each individual ingredient as
this ensures the ingredients are well and fairly mixed. Do not throw it all in at once
and mix as this can cause uneven flavouring.

To make the sauce: Fry the onions off in the butter for around 4 minutes or until soft.
Add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook over a medium heat for one minute.
Add the mushrooms and stir until the they are well mixed with the other ingredients.
Add the herbs and season well. Continue to mix for around 30 seconds, then add the
tomatoes and cook for no more than 2 more minutes, stirring continuously. Take off
the heat.

Remove the mince mixture from the fridge and tip in your eggs and yolk. Mix well
using a spoon, or spatula making sure the mixture is well combined together. Once
mixed, use your hands to start making the balls, by rolling a small amount of mixture
in the palms of your hands. The size of each ball is up to you, but remember how
many of you there are, so make sure there’s plenty to go round. I prefer to keep them
on the slightly smaller side as you can just eat them whole like a greedy little bastard.
Once spherical, roll in flour and place on a dinner plate while you finish off making
every meatball.

Heat a tbsp of pure olive oil in a large enough frying pan and gently place all your
meatballs inside it. Gently brown for around 5 or 6 minutes until all sides of your
balls are roughly cooked.

Place your sauce back on a low heat and gently put your meatballs comfortable inside.
Cover and cook for around 20 minutes, or until meatballs cooked throughout. Do not
let burn, so make sure you remove the lid and stir occasionally.

While the balls are cooking, remove the pasta ball from the fridge and cut into 4
equally sized pieces. Roll out each section on a lightly floured surface and feed
through your pasta machine, going down through the settings from large to small.
Then feed through the tagliatelle looking cutter and place onto a plate.

Bring a large saucepan (I find using a large wok works) of lightly salted water to the
boil. Place all the tagliatelle into the water and cook for 4 minutes, or until cooked.
Taste a bit to test if done. Drain in a colander and rinse with hot water to remove the
stickiness (starch).

To serve:

Evenly distribute the pasta among your 4 warmed plates. Drizzle each plate with
sauce first to ensure pasta is coated, then place an even amount of balls and sauce
mixture over the top.

Grate generously with fresh Parmesan and serve.

Open a bottle of wine, or three….. and enjoy!

The fresh tagliatelle

Great for lunch and for dinner

The BALLS!!!

RECIPE: TIEVOLIZONE

Tievolizone®

Ingredients:

The dough:
Wrights Parmesan and sun dried tomato bread mix 500g*
(Follow the instructions, but add 20ml less water and add a tbsp of olive oil to the mixture. This
will make it stretchier and more like pizza dough)

*This may seem like cheating, but it’s quick. If you have time, make your own dough. Dough is
basic ingredients but can take a long time to prepare. If you’re restricted with time, go with the
bread mix. You need only add water and a little olive oil.

The filling:
Mozzarella (large bag - pre grated)
500g chestnut mushrooms (Thinly sliced)
2 large chicken breasts (Sliced into 1cm thick slices)
1 Tbsp Porcini mushroom rape seed oil (Olive oil will suffice)
10+ slices (2 per Tievolizone) of pancetta or rindless streaky bacon (smoked or not)

The sauce:
Lrg tsp of dried oregano
10 fresh basil leaves (torn up into small pieces)
1 tin of quality chopped tomatoes
Knorr aromatic savoury seasoning
1 lrg garlic clove finely chopped
Salt
Pepper

The glaze:
1 egg beaten
A pinch of dried oregano

Directions:

To make the dough: Follow the instructions on the back of the packet. I have done this too
many times to remember. My own tip is to add 20ml less of the water and add 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Once dough is well mixed, kneed for 10 to 15 minutes. This will ensure you have the best dough
possible. Don’t get lazy and stop half way through. Cover all sides of the dough in flour and put
into a mixing bowl or sauce pan with a cling film lid.
Leave in a warm place while preparing the rest of the Tievolizone ™

To make the sauce: Add all the ingredients to a suitably sized saucepan and put on a medium
heat until it boils. Allow to simmer for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

To make the filling: Heat the Porcini mushroom olive oil. Add the mushrooms until cooked
through. Do not over cook as they will continue to cook when in the oven. Remove from pan
with slotted spoon leaving as much olive oil and juices in the pan as possible.

Add the sliced chicken breast into the same pan and cook on a gentle heat (Add more olive oil if
necessary). Season well with both salt and pepper. Do not over cook. Chicken is best when juicy
so overcooking can ruin this. Under-cook it, and well…..You could die! Be careful!

When chicken is pretty much done, lay the pancetta/bacon on top and cover saucepan with lid.
Continue to cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Take off heat and set aside.

Prepare the dough: Preheat oven to (200 oC Fan assisted) (220 oC conventional) Make sure
the dough has increased in size to at least one and half times its original size (Usually about 30
minutes).
Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a sausage size shape about 12 inches
long. With a sharp knife cut into 4 or 5 equal pieces. Re-flour to avoid drying out and put onto a
plate and move to one side.

Before rolling out dough to form the base for the Tievolizone, make sure that everything is ready
to go onto the dough. The key here is speed. The longer you take to fill the calzone, the more
likely it will become soggy and tear leaving you with a mess coming out of the oven, if even it
gets that far.

Follow these steps:
1: Prepare all the filling ingredients and make sure they’re ready. Put them in a small bowls if
needs be. Believe me, preparation is KING!
2: flour the pizza tray before you place your Tievolizone on it.
3: Have the egg glaze ready with a pastry brush to hand.
4: Make sure oven is ready and hot.

Continue by taking one of the 4 or 5 pieces of dough and place on lightly floured surface.
Using a flour dusted rolling pin, roll the dough into a circle. Make it as big as you can until the
thickness is not much thicker than a stick of chewing gum. Don’t make it too thin as it will tear.
Experience and practice makes this bit easier overtime.
The size of the circle should be large enough to allow a normal dinner sized plate to be placed
over the top. Now cut round the plate and discard of the trimmings.

Place the cut out dough onto the pre-floured pizza tray.
Instantly use the pastry brush and coat the circumference/edge of the circle (about and inch wide)
with the egg.
Put a large handful of the mozzarella in the center of the dough.
Place two or three soup spoon size portions of the sauce on top of the mozzarella, avoiding as
much liquid as possible.

Put a good helping of the mushrooms over the top
Now add the chicken and bacon
Finally, add a small handful of the cheese and sprinkle over the top.

Now fold the circle in half, making sure the edges fit to the opposite side and do not allow the
dough to tear. Be gentle!

Once you have the dough folded, use a fork to press the edges firmly together. This will ensure
the seal does not come undone in the oven.

Brush the Tievolizone™ all over with the egg mixture and finish off with two slits on the roof of
the dough to allow it to breathe while cooking.
Before placing in oven, sprinkle with dried oregano.

Place in the center or top of the oven for around 15 to 20 minutes, or until the skin of the
Tievolizone looks golden brown and crisp.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving. The dough will soften up
again.

If of course you are making more than one of these, cover each finished Tievolizone™ with a
small sheet of foil to retain its heat and put to one side while making more.

Once they are made, serve.

You can cook more than one at a time, but rotate their positions in the oven.

To serve:


Put on a plate and eat.
Another more traditional way to serve is to pour a small serving of finely blended beef
Bolognese over the top. Its works very well.

Final Tip: You may need to clean the pizza tray after each use if the skin breaks and liquid
escapes. Be patient!

The Tievolizone

Mini Tievolizone (great for parties)

Tievolizone with the Bolognese topping