Grind and Roll: Spanish-style duck meatballs with red pepper sauce

by Sarah Steimer

My friend Drew made these meatballs at a restaurant he used to work at in Chicago, and they were always awesome. When I got my hands on some ground duck — and I knew this meatball guide was on the horizon — I shot Drew a text and he was kind enough to not only send me the recipe, but convert it down from massive restaurant portions.

For the sauce:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup onions, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• two, 24-ounce jars of roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 small ancho chile
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and, once hot, add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another few minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce by about two-thirds. Add the peppers, vegetable stock, ancho chile and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Let simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and transfer the mixture to a blender and pulse a few times to reach a somewhat chunky and slightly watery consistency. Return the sauce to the pot.

I’ll admit that poaching these meatballs was a little, um, harrowing. I’m used to checking beef meatballs for doneness, so cracking these meatballs open to check them was a new concept for me. I was texting Drew as I worked and he mentioned that even if I did overcook the meatballs, they would likely keep their tenderness from the poaching method. That was good to hear, because I kept my fist batch poaching for… a while.

For the meatballs:

• 1 pound ground duck meat (shoot for about 15 percent fat)
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small shallot (about  2 tablespoons) minced
• zest of 1 lime
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs
• pinch ground cumin
• pinch coriander
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup manchego cheese, grated finely

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands. Form into balls a little bigger than a golf ball.

With the sauce simmering, add a few meatballs at a time to the and poach for about 5 minutes, or until firm. If you’re more comfortable checking the internal temperature of the meatball, a thermometer should read 165 degrees.

Once all the meatballs have been cooked and removed from the sauce, bring the sauce back up to a boil for a few minutes to kill any possible pathogens in the sauce. Serve the sauce over the meatballs.

Makes about 10-12 meatballs.

Recipe from: Drew Breece

*Push up your sleeves and get ready to roll… meatballs. This March we’re serving up bite-sized recipes for meatballs featuring different meats and nonmeat ingredients for our Grind and Roll guide.