Ladies and gentlemen … the ‘mondeghili’!
The origin of the mondeghili comes from afar. The name, which means meatball, derives from the Arabic word al-bunduck, but the Spaniards taught the preparation of mondeghili to the Milanese, during their 150 years of domination in Milan. The Spanish word is “albondiga”, the Milanese changed it to “albondeguito”, then it became “albondeghito”, and then came to today’s term mondeghilo or ‘mundeghil’ in Milanese.
They are an example of traditional Milanese frugal cuisine, with the use of stale bread, roast or leftover boiled meat or any other type of ingredients such as sausage, wurstel or mortadella, parmesan and eggs. They are patties the size of a walnut, rolled in breadcrumbs and then fried with sage and butter. Today they are often brought to your table as a welcome pre-drink, or you can find them as street food ..
Do you want a top recipe of modeghili?
There are Infinite versions… which ones to choose?
I looked for an unexpected, alternative (but not too much) and decidedly ‘designer’ recipe. Super Star Chef TV Simone Rugiati gives it to us, here it is!
Mondeghili with Jerusalem artichoke cream and purple cabbage marinated with lime
Ingredients for 4 people
– 300g white beef
– 100g round of veal
– 100g real beef
– 80g mortadella
– 30g parmesan
– 1 stick of celery
– 4 carrots
– 2 onions
– 5/6 Jerusalem artichokes
– 3 eggs
– 200g Flour
– 300g breadcrumbs (or panko)
– 200g purple cabbage
– 2 limes
– Nutmeg to taste s
– Seed oil to taste
– Extra virgin olive oil to taste
– Salt to taste.
– Flaked salt to taste
– Peppercorns to taste
Method
Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, add the celery, carrots, onion and finally add the beef steak, the veal round and the real beef. Boil the meat for 3/4 hours keeping the heat low; the water must boil gently. After cooking, let the meat cool.
Grind the boiled meat and mortadella in a bowl, mix the meat and mortadella mixture with Parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper and add a grating of nutmeg. Create some meat balls and then flatten them to create the typical shape of mondeghilo. Pass the modeghilo in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.
For the Jerusalem artichoke cream:
Stew an onion cut into julienne strips in a pan, peel and cut the Jerusalem artichoke into cubes and add it to the onion, add a couple of ladles of broth and cook. With the help of a blender, blend the Jerusalem artichoke with oil, salt and a sprinkling of pepper. Cut the purple cabbage into thin strips with the help of a mandolin, season with oil, salt, lime juice and two grated zest.
Fry the mondeghilo in abundant oil until it becomes golden brown.
Proceed with the dish, placing the topimabur cream, the mondeghilo, the marinated purple cabbage and finally the salt flakes at the base.
