Soft and flavorful inside, golden outside. These are my oven-baked cauliflower meatballs with crispy speck. A simple, home-style recipe born to use half a cauliflower I had left from another preparation. They are perfect as a light main course or as a tasty side dish, and also ideal to serve at an informal buffet. They are easy to prepare and bake conveniently in the oven. Try them and tell me if they disappeared in a few minutes at your home too. If you prefer a vegetarian version, simply omit the speck: the result will still be soft and tasty.
Other cauliflower ideas you might be interested in:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 45 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Steaming, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients for the cauliflower meatballs
With these quantities I made 12 meatballs of about 1.4 oz (40 g) each.
- 1.1 lb (about 4 2/3 cups florets) cauliflower (weight after trimming)
- 2.5 oz speck (in a stick)
- 1 egg (medium)
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 2/3 cup grated Grana Padano (or Parmesan)
- salt
- black pepper
Tools
I steamed the cauliflower florets, but you can also boil them in lightly salted water for about 15–20 minutes until tender and easy to mash. In that case it is important to drain them very well because boiling tends to make them absorb and retain more water than steaming.
- 1 Steamer
- 1 Potato ricer
- 1 Fine sieve
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pan small
- 1 Baking sheet
Preparation of the cauliflower meatballs
Break the cauliflower into florets, wash them and steam for about 20 minutes or until tender and easy to pass through the ricer. To check they are cooked correctly, pierce them with a fork – it should meet no resistance. Cooking time depends a lot on your florets. Larger cauliflowers have firmer cores. Sometimes florets are very thick. Adjust the time and add a few more minutes of cooking until you get the right tenderness.
Once cooked, let them dry very well in the air, also blotting them with kitchen paper.
Then gently press them with the ricer to expel excess water. Collect the released liquid, pass it through a fine sieve to recover any cauliflower bits and proceed to a second pressing: you should obtain a soft consistency but not a purée. Just to give you an idea: my well-pressed cauliflower weighed 313 g.
Heat a small pan very well without any fat and brown the speck until golden and crispy. Remove it from the pan, let it cool completely and chop it into small pieces with a knife.
Add to the cauliflower a generous pinch of salt, the egg, the breadcrumbs, the grated cheese, the chopped speck and a grind of black pepper.
Mix thoroughly to combine all the ingredients perfectly. The mixture should be soft but easy to handle. If it seems too loose, add breadcrumbs little by little, keeping in mind that the consistency can also vary depending on how much water the cauliflower absorbed during cooking and how much you managed to eliminate.
Take portions of mixture of about 1.4 oz (40 g), form balls, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and slightly press them with your fingers to flatten. This way you’ll get meatballs all the same size so they will cook evenly.
Bake the cauliflower meatballs in a preheated conventional oven at 392°F for 10 minutes, then turn them over and continue baking for another 10 minutes at the same temperature. Remove from the oven and enjoy hot or at room temperature. Enjoy! Paola.
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