Julia Busuttil Nishimura is a cook, author and presenter.
Her food is influenced by her Maltese heritage, the ebb and flow of the seasons, and by her time spent living in Tuscany, where she learned the joys of the Italian kitchen.
Her fourth cookbook Good Cooking Every Day will be published in September 2024.
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For more information about her book, head to the website here!
LAMB MEATBALLS WITH BAGNETTO VERDE
Serves 4
60 g stale bread, crusts removed
80 ml (⅓ cup) full-cream milk
750 g lamb mince
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
40 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated, plus extra to serve
30 g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
large handful of parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly whisked
sea salt and black pepper
BAGNETTO VERDE
1 garlic clove, peeled
sea salt
60 g parsley leaves (from about 1½ bunches)
60 g mint leaves (from about 1½ bunches)
4 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained
1 hard-boiled egg yolk
50 g fresh breadcrumbs
80 ml (⅓ cup) white wine vinegar
200 ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying
Black pepper
Bagnetto verde is a green sauce from Piemonte in northern Italy. It’s punchy, vibrant and a wonderful accompaniment to these lamb meatballs, which are simply flavoured with parsley, cheese and nutmeg. They are very much inspired by the polpette di Teresa from one of my favourite lunch spots in Rome – Trattoria da Cesare. On a recent trip, I ate them with a simple salad of puntarelle dressed with garlic and anchovies. A heavenly memory.
Place the bread in a small bowl and cover with the milk. Allow to soak for 10–15 minutes. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread, then crumble it into a large bowl. Add the mince, garlic, nutmeg, cheeses, parsley and egg. Season with salt and pepper and mix with your hands until well combined. Roll into golf ball–sized balls and place on a tray. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the bagnetto verde, pound the garlic with a pinch of salt using a mortar and pestle. Add the herbs and continue pounding. Finally, add the anchovies and egg yolk and pound until you have a fairly homogeneous paste. Stir in the breadcrumbs, vinegar and olive oil. Season to taste and set aside. Alternatively, blitz the garlic, herbs, anchovies and egg yolk in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper and, with the motor running, add the vinegar and olive oil.
Warm a few tablespoons of extra olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the meatballs and pan-fry, turning them often to ensure they brown on all sides, for 4–5 minutes or until cooked. Serve the meatballs with a grating of extra Parmigiano Reggiano and the bagnetto verde.