Fennel and pork meatballs with gremolata
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 4
- 2 small oniongrated
- 500g lean pork mince
- 125g fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp fennel seedscrushed
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 egg
- olive oilfor frying
- butter
- 2 cloves garliccrushed
- 3 bay leaves
- 300ml white wine
- 200ml strong chicken stock
- 100ml double cream
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 300g fregola or giant couscous
Gremolata
- a small bunch flat-leaf parsleychopped
- 1 lemonzested
- 1 clove garlicchopped
- kcal880
- fat35.8g
- saturates15g
- carbs81.8g
- sugars8.6g
- fibre8g
- protein41.6g
- salt0.9g
Method
step 1
Put half the onion, all of the pork mince, breadcrumbs, fennel seeds, oregano and egg in a bowl with plenty of seasoning.
step 2
Mix everything with your hands really well, then shape into 20 meatballs. Heat 1 tbsp oil in an ovenproof frying pan and brown the meatballs in batches, adding more oil as you need to – the meatballs should be almost cooked through. Once brown, scoop out of the pan onto a plate.
step 3
Add the rest of the onion to the pan with another tbsp of olive oil and a knob of butter. Fry gently until soft, then add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the bay leaves and white wine and simmer until the wine has reduced by half. Add the meatballs back to the pan, along with the chicken stock, cream and mustard and simmer for 5 minutes, turning the meatballs halfway through.
step 4
Meanwhile, mix the gremolata ingredients. Cook the fregola until just tender, then toss with a knob of butter and season. Serve
the meatballs with the fregola and a sprinkling of gremolata.