Today a special anti-waste recipe using leftovers with mondeghili the meatballs from Milan!
This special and tasty second course made of beef is also known as mondeghini and is a dish that has origins from far, far away!
The origin of the Milanese meatballs dates back a long way because the name comes from the Arabic “al-bunduck” meaning meatball, but it was the Spaniards during their dominion in Milan who brought this delicious preparation made of meat and mortadella!
Francesco Cherubini in his Milanese-Italian Dictionary (Milan 1839), describes them with these exact words: “Mondeghili: kind of meatballs made with leftover meat, bread, egg, and similar ingredients”.
The Milanese over time changed the Spanish word “albondiga” to “albondeguito”, then “albondeghito”, until reaching the current term mondeghilo.
As I said before, it’s a recipe that uses leftover meat, and I read that this recipe can be varied and enriched by flavoring the mondeghini with tomato sauce, crumbled amaretti, and also wrapping the meat, mortadella, bread, and spices mixture in savoy cabbage leaves (Polpett de verz)… And I must say that this variation of the mondeghili recipe for a perfect exotic second course intrigues me quite a bit! So then…..
WHAT LEFTOVER MEAT IS USED FOR MONDEGHINI?
We can use both boiled and roasted meat, then we need to mix it with mortadella, bread soaked in milk, garlic, nutmeg, and grated cheese.
And already here you can start to smell delightful aromas, right?
I made the mondeghini the usual way my mom made meatballs at home, but I read they should weigh 30 grams and have a more rounded shape… alas, I missed the mark!
IN WHAT FAT ARE THE MONDEGHILI, THE TYPICAL MILANESE MEATBALLS, COOKED IN A FEW STEPS?
It’s essential where to cook this delicious typical Milanese cuisine dish, and that is BUTTER, although I must confess, to be precise, that I made a mix of EVO oil and butter, also basting it over the mondeghini meatballs! Anyway, if you want to be lighter, use only seed oil, perhaps peanut oil, which has a high smoke point, much higher than EVO, or cook them in the oven!
The MONDEGHINI, the true Milanese meatballs, must take on a decidedly inviting golden-brown color and are ready to be enjoyed at the table!
To fry with butter, clarified butter would be indicated, known as CLARIFIED BUTTER, meaning the one from which water has been removed, and it’s perfect for all frying because its smoke point reaches up to 356°F, unlike regular butter, which can reach 248°F.
Another Milanese recipe I’ve made with a small Christmas set is:
OSSIBUCHI WITH GOLDEN RISOTTO
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MONDEGHILI THE MEATBALLS OF MILAN
The cuisine of ASI
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 12.3 oz boiled beef (beef)
- 1.8 oz mortadella
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 clove garlic
- 3.5 oz stale bread
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1.1 oz Parmigiano Reggiano DOP (grated)
- 3.5 oz breadcrumbs
- to taste butter
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste nutmeg
- to taste lemon zest
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
Tools
- Pans
- Mixer
Preparation of the Mondeghili Recipe, the Meatballs from Milan
For this typical recipe of Milanese cuisine, first I dice the stale bread and put it in a bowl with the milk to soften it.
Then I crumble it by hand until it becomes a soft mass.
I chop both the leftover meat and mortadella into pieces, put everything in a bowl, then add the strained bread and garlic.
I take these ingredients and pass them through the meat grinder: I did it twice!
I add to the mixture the egg, grated cheese, a pinch of grated lemon zest, and a hint of nutmeg… guess what??
Grated as well 😂
Of course, I season with salt and pepper and work the leftover meat, mortadella, and bread soaked in milk mixture well.
I make, or rather I should have made, meatballs that weigh 30 grams, and I confess that I started well with the scale and… then I went a bit by eye, using up the whole mixture.
I forgot… do you have wet hands? The mondeghili meatballs turn out better!
In a non-stick pan, I put butter and extra virgin olive oil and fried the mondeghini meatballs well covered in breadcrumbs until golden brown.
Tasty, good, delicious, and economical…
Enjoy your meal!
Annalisa
I remind you that at the top where you see the blog menu, there is a magnifying glass 🔎 that allows you, by entering an ingredient or the title of a recipe, to find all the preparations that have that title or ingredient, and I hope that among these, you will read recipes of your liking!
HISTORICAL INFORMATION Sheet De.co City of Milan
