SLIDER

auntie rosina's meatball sliders

Daylight Saving has just begun so I'm feeling ever so slightly out of synch. Today was a public holiday for Labor Day and the 3 day break was much needed. I went up to Dungog to visit Farmer Andrew and the chicken ladies (photos to follow next week) then came home in time to do some domestic chores. With the painter coming to do some work on my place I had windows to wash; lightbulbs to replace and some packing up and shifting to do in my spare room/office before he could locate the walls. Yup it really was that bad in there.





Today’s recipe is a very old Maureen Simpson recipe from Australian House and Garden. I copied this into my little recipe notebook so long ago that the writing is now faded and almost illegible. The recipe for Auntie Rosina’s meatballs is very tasty and a little bit spicy and I seem to have been making them for ever. Usually I serve the meatballs with penne pasta but I decided to put a spin on the meatballs and turn them into meatball sliders.



I made the usual meatball recipe but I added a few extra olives just to make sure there was at least one olive for every slider. I’d planned to serve the meatballs on a few salad leaves, topped with a slice of parmesan and a sprig of oregano all tucked inside a homemade soft brioche roll.




While hunting the internet to see if any-one had made meatball sliders before (and let me assure you that they have) I came across this recipe from Martha Stewart. She topped her sliders with a combination of mozzarella and parmesan cheese then heated the slider in a hot oven until the cheese melted. That sounded so much better than my idea, so I pinched it lock stock and barrel.




To make these into sliders, in addition to the meatball recipe you’ll need some buns. I used this recipe which will make 16 small rolls but of course you can just buy the rolls. I served 2 meatballs for each roll, so the meatball recipe would make about 14 filled sliders. You need about 2-3 tsp of cheese for each slider, a few salad leaves and a few sprigs of herbs. I used a combination of both oregano and basil as that’s what I had in the fridge and in the herb garden that’s growing on my bathroom window ledge.

Here’s the recipe for you -

AUNTIE ROSINA’S MEATBALLS – Serves 4
Sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic; finely chopped
1 chilli de-seeded and chopped
700ml tomato passata
½ cup red wine
sprigs of fresh oregano
12 black olives, pitted

In a large saucepan heat the olive oil. Gently fry the onion, garlic and chilli until softened. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Meatballs
500gms beef mince
2 cups of soft fresh breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup chopped parsley
1 beaten egg
salt and pepper
1 tbs olive oil, for frying

Thoroughly combine all the meatball ingredients and form into 2.5 cm (1 in) meatballs (makes about 28 meatballs). Heat the oil in a medium sized fry pan and gently fry the meatballs on all sides until browned. Add to the sauce and simmer in the sauce for 20 minutes. Top with extra parsley and serve with pasta.



Back to work tomorrow then I'm heading to Brisbane for the weekend to see the family and to let the painter do his work. He's just painting the living room; repainting the spare room and all the windows and I can't wait to see the place freshened up a bit. 

See you all again next week,

J
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