Meatballs With Green-Peppercorn Sauce
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We must be on a meatball kick around here; when we saw this recipe in the weekend Wall St. Journal, we made it the same day. The Wall St. Journal, by the way, recently started publishing a "Weekend Edition" which comes out on Saturdays. It is sort of an expanded version of their "Personal Edition" and includes articles on travel, health, and food. In particular it shares recipes from famous chefs that regular people can make at home on a weekend, often with more recipes for the leftovers to use during the week. We've tried several of their recipes and all have been good, some astoundingly so. This meatballs with green-peppercorn sauce is one the astounding ones. When I bothered to look up from the recipe and review WSJ article I was happily surprised to learn that the recipe comes from the kitchen of chefs Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal of San Francisco. Mitchell is one of the jolliest people I've ever met (we used to train in Aikido together), and a gifted chef whose whole being exudes a love for great food. He and his brother are chefs not only at Postrio, where Clinton would eat when he came to town, but also now at their own restaurant, Town Hall.
Meatballs With Green-Peppercorn Sauce Recipe
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Note, this recipe makes a lot more sauce than we actually needed for the meatballs. But, the sauce is so good, any leftover can be mixed in with rice or pasta.
Ingredients
Sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 medium shallots, minced
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp sherry wine vinegar
½ cup brandy
1 cup red wine
1 cup port
2 cups beef stock or chicken stock
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons green peppercorns in brine, drained and crushed
Coarse salt, to taste
Meatballs:
2 ½-inch thick slices white bread, crusts removed
1 cup whole milk
½ pound ground veal
½ pound ground pork
½ pound ground beef
1½ teaspoons coarse salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
½ cup fresh ricotta cheese
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup olive oil
Method
1 Make the sauce: Heat the 2 Tbsp oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add the mustard and sherry vinegar and reduce to half, about 1 minute. Add the brandy and cook to burn off the alcohol, about 3 minutes.
2 Add the red wine and port; reduce by half, about 15 minutes. Add the stock and reduce the mixture by half again, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, butter and crushed green peppercorns. Add salt to taste.
3 While the sauce is reducing, make the meatballs: Soak the bread in milk until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain the milk and squeeze the bread out slightly. In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread, veal, pork, beef, salt, pepper, Parmigiano-Reggiano, ricotta and parsley. Roll the mixture into meatballs the size of golf balls.
4 Heat the ¼ cup olive oil a large nonstick pan over medium high heat. Fry the meatballs until crispy on the outside and cooked through on the inside, about 12 minutes. Do this in batches so that the meatballs are not crowded. As the batches of meatballs are cooked, transfer them to 300-degree oven to stay warm while you finish cooking the meatballs and sauce. Serve the meatballs with the warm peppercorn sauce.
Serves 6.
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I've been enjoying and loving your site with all your mouthwatering photos.
I too enjoy cooking (& eating)! These meatballs look so delicious !! Thank you for sharing the recipe !! I will love to try this!