TGK cooks -Winter Warmers- Jamie Oliver's Big British Meatballs!

Do you like my Big British Meatball?

In spite of the title, Winter Warmers, we actually made this during Eid Al Fitr ( 16 May- a day missing from Neil's 2021 Calendar!) . The recipe comes from a great recipe book I received from my former work colleague, Miss Andrea for Christmas 2020 . As I had already sent my belongings ( including , by accident , all of my cookbooks ) to the Philippines this excellent recipe book has remained with me in Bahrain . Hence making winter warmers as the temperature hits 41 degrees here in Bahrain!

With this recipe book Jamie Oliver has tried to put the fun back into cooking with home made rich sauces and 2 - 3 hours preparation and cooking per dish, so each is a labour of love! It was quite a change to have this recipe book join my collection as I rarely cook English food and have not been back to the UK for 11 years. However I have always been a big Jamie Oliver fan and so I really enjoyed reading through the book and selecting dishes to cook. Jamie makes it all very simple with lots of pictures and clear instructions.

In another blog, where they review Jamie's Recipe book they say:

" In the introduction, Jamie describes the book as being the antithesis of his 15 and 30 minute meals. It’s designed to encourage slow, indulgent cooking; cooking for the love of cooking, not just eating. Though the eating to be had from Comfort Food looks pretty great too! The recipes are more involved than in many of his other books, and it’s kind of refreshing to go through a recipe book that isn’t full of shortcuts and time-saving tips.

Both the artworking and photography in the book are divine- David Loftus"( is the photographer)

Source: Cider with Rosie

Accessed 9.1.21

You can see some of the other dishes I cooked in my blog:

More of Jamie's comfort food

So here is the recipe, I had to make a few amendments as I do not have an Oven in my flat so I converted it to a one pot dish!

Not sure how clear this will be so let me share Jamie's introduction here:

"Many of us are Meatballs fans, but I wanted to create a super- British , extra - comforting version, so here we are talking about the ULTIMATE meatballs: big in size, made with sweet onions, stuffed with great artisan Cheddar that melts as they cook and oozes out of the middle, plus a ridiculous, filthy- good onion and ale * gravy that'll keep you going back for more. There's not much more to say really - once you start you just have to finish"

Source: Jamie's Comfort Food , Michael Joseph, Penguin 2014

* For obvious reasons I substituted water for Pale Ale in the gravy!'

To make the meatballs dice two onions and fry with rosemary, Worcester Sauce and water in a good glug of oil for 20 Mins. Then remove the onions and allow to cool. Next mix 500g minced pork and 500g minced chuck steak with a handful of breadcrumbs and the cooled onions using your hands . Jamie says you should wash your hands first and scrunch it for a minute to create a delicious texture.

Luckily at this point my Assistant Chef , Mr. Corleen Duero , arrived and he made the meat mixture into 16 perfect balls , stuffing each with the Cheddar cheese.

Corleen's beautiful ( meat) balls!

Jamie says "Take pride in your balls, repeat until they are all done and place in the fridge" . He is a Cheeky Chappie.

( Source: 7 Pasta dishes from Jamie accessed 17.5.21)

So while your balls are chilling in the fridge make your gravy by frying 200 g minced Chuck steak with a little oil and then when its golden add one chopped onion and 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and cook for 5 more minutes. Then you crumble in the beef stock cube , the 200 ml of Pale Ale ( or water if you do not drink Alcohol like my friends and I) and then stir in 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour to thicken the gravy and 1 tablespoon blackcurrant jam, 2 teaspoons of English Mustard and 2 tablespoons of malt vinegar. Simmer the gravy until rich and thick and season to perfection

Chef Coco taught me always to have my ingredients ready ( I used raspberry Jam)

The finished gravy is left to cool and then I added the cooked meatballs

In Jamie's recipe he uses an oven to cook the meatballs (240 degrees C, 475 degrees F or Gas Mark 9) . You preheat a high sided roasting tray, drizzle with oil and add the meatballs. Masks are not required but they should be socially distanced ( not touching) . Blast them at the top of the oven for 15 mins and pour the gravy over them and heat for 15 mins. Jamie said you can also baste your balls in gravy before cooking to give them a lovely shine.

Frying the stuffed meatballs in Bahrain - one pot style

Here in Bahrain in my little Studio flat, as I wait for my visa to retire to the Philippines, I do not have an oven so as Corleen finished making them I fried them turning them carefully with a wooden spatula.

Boiling the potatoes

There is only one way to serve Big British meatballs and that is on a bed of creamy mashed potato. We got 5 or 6 big potatoes from Alosra and I peeled them ( as Corleen was late as usual) and then sliced them and cooked them in boiling water. As the recipe serves 8 I had two pans full of potatoes which I boiled until soft and then drained, added butter and milk and then realised my potato masher is in Palawan! I wondered what Jake would have done and decided on using a spoon, a fork and a spatula to squash the potatoes into a creamy mash! ( He later told me he would have used the bottom of a mug to mash the potatoes! I went to Carrefour and got an expensive stainless steel potato masher!)

The first half of my creamy mash- one pot at a time!

On Friday we combined the mash, the Big British Meatballs ( well small Phillipino ones!) and the gravy for my houseboys lunch. Jake wrote to say thank you and the lunch and the lunch was sarap ( delicious) . Having used the CR and been fed Corleen went to his photography class and did not say anything!