I remember at university our union used to try and sponge up some of our booziness at the end of club nights by shifting hot dogs that were slid into hollowed out baguettes. Whilst I have fond memories of these, I wanted to take this conceptually but pile in some quality produce. Specifically, steaming hot meatballs with melted cheese & a spicy sour cream to send it all down with.
The full list of ingredients is at the bottom of this post, so peruse, purchase and get back up here for the step by step.
Firstly, gently fry your pancetta in a little oil until crisp and golden. Remove from the pan and dab with kitchen roll.
Grab your baguette half and begin pulling out the soft centre with your fingers. Once beyond your grasp, use a spoon to scrap down each side and pull the remaining crumbs out. Plonk in a blender and whizz to breadcrumbs. If you don't have a blender then rub between your palms to flake down to crumbs.
Finely chop the pancetta and a handful of parsley.
And add to a bowl with your mince, garlic, egg, salt and pepper.
Next, get your clean handed flat mate to come and mix the ball mix together. Then divide up into relatively small balls, depending on the size of the hollowed gap in your roll.
For the sauce, start by warming your passata on a low heat with salt, pepper & paprika.
Gently fry some onions and add to the sauce pan.
If you have a gas hob, sit a red chilli directly on the flame, turning every minute or so until black and blistered. Then put this in a sandwich bag or even shopping bag, blow the bag up a bit to add some air, spin and twist to seal off a sort of small balloon. Leave this to steam through for 5 or 10 minutes before chopping finely (including the blackened skin but not the green stalk) and adding to the sauce. If you don't have a gas hob, sit the chilli in the oven for 10-15 minutes and bag up from there.
Meanwhile, get your meatballs in an oven dish with a bit of a lip on so that when you add the sauce, it won't bubble over the sides. Slide into a 200°C oven for 10 minutes.
Pull your meatball tray out of the oven and pour over your hot tomato sauce.
Tear the mozzarella over the meatballs and grate over your second cheese of choice. Put back in the oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, I used this time to put together a little green salad of lettuce, cucumber & spring onion. My favourite dressing at the moment is 4 spoons of olive oil, 1 spoon of vinegar (anything but malt), a 1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard, salt, pepper and half a crushed garlic clove (trust me).
Next on the sides list is the jalapeño sour cream. Finely chop as many jalapeños as you feel you can take and add to as much soured cream as you like. A tip to really help integrate the two is to grind the back of a spoon against the bottom of the dish you're mixing in. It helps disintegrate some of the jalapeño into the sour cream.
Divvy out into individual little ramekins or dish a healthy dollop on the side of the plate you're going to serve on.
Meanwhile, check on your meatballs. As the sauce is steaming through the meat, they won't really over cook or dry out, so you can leave for between 10 and 15 minutes without any concern, so if you're over running a little, no dramas. I'd check from 10 though and the aim is for lovely golden cheese bubbling away on top.
Grab your hollowed roll and start rolling dem balls down.
Toss your salad in the dressing and sit on the side of the plate with your steaming sub and ramekin of sour cream.
Upon noshing down, be sure to keep dolloping the cool but tangy sour cream to ensure every mouthful has it all going on.
Ingredients (serves 4)::
2 baguettes, ideally slightly wider than usual.
500g beef mince
1 packet of pancetta (thin streaks)
1 handful of parsley
2 eggs
4 cloves of garlic
2 cartons of passata (or tins of chopped tomatoes)
1 red chilli
2tsp paprika
2 medium sized red onions
1 jar of jalapeños
1 pot of sour cream
1 ball of mozzarella
A second stringy, melty cheese of your choice. I used Emmental.
Side salad
Lettuce
4-5 spring onions
Half a cucumber
Wholegrain mustard (or dijon)
Olive oil
Vinegar - sherry, cider or white.
