Today I present to you these rich and tasty meatballs in sauce, made without adding any gluten. They are very easy to prepare and so good that the whole family will enjoy them. At my house, we prepare meatballs in two ways: either with the addition of soaked bread crumbs or without. My preferred version is with the moist bread crumbs; however, since I can’t use traditional bread, I solve it by adding mashed boiled potatoes that provide the right moisture, helping to make them pleasantly soft, juicy, and rich in flavor. Gluten-free meatballs in sauce can be accompanied by a side of peas, bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, pumpkin, and so on.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 26
- Cooking methods: Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons, Fall, Winter and Spring
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs mixed ground meat (beef and pork)
- 1 medium whole egg
- 1 cup boiled potatoes
- ground pepper
- fine salt
- 1.75 oz mix of grated table cheeses (pecorino romano and parmesan)
- to taste gluten-free breadcrumbs
- to taste peanut oil
- 2 tbsp dry white wine
- 2.2 lbs tomato purée
- 1/2 chopped carrot (or thinly sliced)
- 1/4 grated red onion
- to taste celery (in pieces)
- to taste fine salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Steps
Let’s start by preparing the meatballs. Personally, I prefer to use a mixed ground meat composed of equal parts pork and beef, because we like it much more.
Boil the potato with the skin. Once cooked, peel it and mash it with a potato masher, placing the puree in a bowl and letting it cool for 10 minutes.
Then, add to the cooled puree the ground meat, the egg, fine salt, ground pepper, and the mix of grated cheeses. Knead to perfectly combine all the ingredients.
In a large bowl, place plenty of gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Start forming the meatballs, taking a ball of the mixture to the desired size. In my case, each meatball weighed between 1.5 and 1.6 oz.
Roll each meatball in the breadcrumbs and place them on a plate until the mixture is finished.
Now let’s move on to pre-cooking. In a large, wide, and shallow pan, heat 4 tablespoons of peanut oil on medium-high heat.
When it’s hot, start cooking the meatballs (all at once or a few at a time, whichever is more convenient for you), ensuring they brown evenly on all surfaces (about 5 minutes, turning them gently and often).
These are not fried meatballs in the traditional sense; they should not cook completely but only brown quickly on the outside. The crust that forms around them will ensure they don’t break during prolonged cooking in the sauce.
As they brown well, lift them and place them on a plate.
You can decide to prepare the sauce in the same pan used for cooking the meatballs or another. I prefer to use another pan.
In the chosen pan for the sauce, add the chopped celery, onion, and carrot, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and let the vegetables sauté over low heat on medium heat.
When the onion becomes translucent and wilted, add the meatballs as seen in the third photo of the collage.
Raise the heat, sprinkle the meatballs with two pinches of fine salt, immediately pour in the wine, and wait for the alcohol to evaporate before adding the tomato purée.
Pour in the tomato purée and clean the purée bottle with half a cup of water, which we will add to the sauce.
Cover the pan, leaving a crack, and keep the heat high for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, transfer the pan to a smaller burner and continue cooking over low heat for about an hour and a half, remembering to always leave a crack between the pan and the lid.
For the first 30 minutes of cooking, I recommend avoiding turning the meatballs in the sauce with utensils unless strictly necessary and very gently to prevent them from breaking.
Halfway through cooking, adjust the salt if the sauce tastes too bland for your liking.
Our gluten-free meatballs in sauce are ready.
Bon appetit
