Milanese by nature: the recipe for Mondeghili

From Spain with fury: the Mondeghili

Meatballs are one of the most famous and widespread dishes in Italy, or rather, throughout the world. A thousand names, a thousand versions and mixes of different ingredients for a dish that really manages to please everyone: from vegetarians to seasoned carnivores, right up to children and grandparents. Today we want to present the recipe for these tasty meatballs that came to us thanks to the Spaniards, but which were immediately accepted into the Milanese culinary tradition. They even found a place and were included, in 1800, in the Milanese-Italian dictionary, where they are defined as: "a kind of meatballs made with meat, bread, egg, and similar ingredients".

We certainly don't have the original recipe officially, considering the essence of these dishes - that is, with an eye towards recovery - the mondeghili contained waste or leftover meat and other poor ingredients easily available in homes: as happens still today with meatball and meatloaf recipes. Some versions of mondeghili include the potato among the ingredients, however, since it was not a very widespread product at the time, the recipe we follow nowadays contains bread and boiled meat, but often some chefs try to reinvent and experiment with the version too with the potato. Obviously the Spanish version of mondeghili also still exists, but the "albondigas" contain very different ingredients such as eggs, rice, paprika, orange zest, chilli pepper and tend to be with sauce: still tasty and inviting!

The secret of this dish is the meat we use to prepare it, the boiled meat is the best, in particular the blanched meat, but we can also use other typical cuts which you can also find in our Bollito Box . But let's now move on to the recipe we all know, in the fried version and with Italian meat that you can find in our online butcher's shop. A simple and quick recipe like the time it will take us to eat them due to their goodness.

The traditional recipe for Milanese mondeghili

Ingredients

• 500 g of boiled blancmange (you can also find it in the Lesso Box )
• 130 g milk
• 100g of mortadella
• 80 g stale bread
• 50 g of grana padano
• 40 g of butter
• 30 g of clarified butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 bunch of parsley
• breadcrumbs to taste
• Salt and Pepper To Taste
• flour to taste

Method

We soak the stale bread in milk for about 15 minutes so that it soaks well; in the meantime, cut the boiled blancmange into small pieces, chop it finely and do the same thing with the mortadella. In a bowl, mix the meat with the eggs, the grated Grana Padano, salt, pepper and a little chopped parsley to taste.

Now add the soaked and well-squeezed bread to the mixture. We mix the dough well with our hands and begin to shape small meatballs with a slightly flattened shape.

Now flour the meatballs, dip them in the beaten eggs and breadcrumbs. Fry in a pan with clarified butter or seed oil, remembering to turn them often. As soon as they are ready, place them on absorbent paper - or one suitable for frying - and serve immediately piping hot accompanied with salad or puree.