Maltese Meatballs in Red Sauce (Bragoli)

Today we take a full 360, after going from a veggies-stuffed-with-veggies earlier this month, to meat-wrapped-in-meat!

There’s nothing more comforting than the smell of red wine tomato sauce infused throughout the house on a wintery afternoon!

There are many variations of this recipe depending on which region of Malta you’re from. The Portelli version uses good-quality cuts of veal, and lean mince with some spinach and fresh fetta to ease the meaty load.

When asking my Mum about her memories attached to this meal, she explained to me that this was the dish you’d cook to impress special guests – it’s the ‘roast dinner’ of Malta!

METHOD

To begin, lay out the topside steak and lightly tenderise with a meat hammer. Then lay one slice of prosciutto over the top, along with your spinach leaves and thinly sliced fetta.

Once you’ve created these layers, roll the steak with the other filling ingredients (mince, herbs and garlic) as neatly as you can, tucking in the sides as you go to create a sealed parcel of flavour. Once you’ve rolled the steak to the end and the filling is secure, thread a toothpick on each side of the roll to keep it closed, and you have yourself a Bragoli! Repeated this process for all the steaks.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and lightly fry the outside of each of your Bragolis and set aside.

To prepare the sauce, in a separate pan fry up the onions and garlic in oil until golden. Add your tomatoes and pure, along with the wine, oregano, nutmeg, cinnamon and bayleaf. Bring the sauce to boil and allow it to simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Once the sauce has gained some flavour, place the Bragolis into the sauce, and continue to simmer for another hour or so, until they are cooked through.

This dish is most commonly served with fresh bread, however we have always served it with buttery potato mash, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. This meal really does feel like like a nice big warm hug from mum!