Albóndigas

How to make it

1. Tear the white bread into smaller pieces, place them in a bowl, and pour the whole milk over. Let the bread soak for 10 minutes, until it's soft all the way through and mashes easily between your fingers. ⏱ 10 min · passive
2. Mash the soaked bread to a paste with a fork. Knead in the pork, beef, egg, the finely chopped garlic, half the parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and work the mixture together for 5 minutes. It should be tacky and hold together in your hand, since a loose mixture will fall apart in the sauce.
   Chef's tip Work the mixture until it feels tacky and clings lightly to your palm; this develops a protein network that holds the meatballs together. If it still feels loose or crumbly, they are more likely to split during simmering.
3. Shape the mixture into about 24 meatballs the size of a walnut and roll them tight between your palms. Coat them in the flour so they're thinly and evenly covered, then tap off the excess — too much flour will clump in the sauce. ⏱ 10 min
4. Heat the olive oil in a wide, deep pan over medium-high heat and brown the meatballs in three batches, about 5 minutes per batch. Roll them around as they cook until they have a golden-brown crust all the way around. They don't need to be cooked through yet, since they'll finish simmering in the sauce. Set them aside on a plate. ⏱ 15 min
   Chef's tip Brown only as many meatballs as can sit with space around them: they should hiss steadily and develop a dry golden crust. A crowded pan cools and steams them, leaving pale meatballs with less savoury flavour.
5. Pour off the oil from the pan, leaving about 2 tbsp behind along with the browned bits. Sauté the onion, carrot, and garlic over medium heat for 8 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent and the carrot has lost its raw crunch.
6. Turn the heat down to low and stir in the sweet pimentón. Let it warm through for 1 minute, until it smells sweet and turns the oil red — it will turn bitter if it gets too much heat.
   Chef's tip Keep the heat low: the pimentón should smell sweet and fragrant as it dyes the oil brick red. If it darkens quickly or smells sharp, it has scorched and will make the whole sauce bitter.
7. Pour in the white wine and scrape up the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon so all the browned bits from the meatballs come loose into the sauce. Let the wine reduce by half over 4 minutes, until the sharp smell of alcohol is gone.
8. Add the chopped tomatoes, beef stock, and bay leaf, and season with salt. Let the sauce simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until it has reduced enough that a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a trail for a moment. ⏱ 15 min · passive
9. Fish out the bay leaf and blend the sauce with an immersion blender for 3 minutes, until there are no visible pieces of carrot or onion left. It should be velvety smooth and run slowly off the spoon.
10. Return the browned meatballs to the blended sauce, cover, and let them simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Turn them gently a couple of times along the way so they're coated all over. Finally, cut one meatball open: the meat should be evenly gray-brown all the way to the center with no pink core, since ground meat must always be cooked through. ⏱ 20 min · passive
11. Peel the potatoes and cut them into wedges about a finger thick. Pat them completely dry with a clean kitchen towel, since water will make the hot oil spatter. ⏱ 10 min
12. Heat the frying oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, until it reaches 170°C. A piece of potato should bubble eagerly right away without browning.
13. Fry the potatoes in two batches, about 8 minutes per batch, until deeply golden and crisp outside and tender in the middle. Lift them onto paper towels and sprinkle with flaky sea salt right away while they're hot — that way the salt sticks. ⏱ 15 min
    Chef's tip At about 170°C, the potatoes should bubble actively without racing into dark colour; too-cool oil makes them greasy, while hotter oil browns the outside before the centres soften. Let the oil return to temperature between batches.
14. Divide the meatballs and smooth sauce among four deep plates and arrange the crisp potatoes along one side so they don't sit soaking in the liquid. Scatter the rest of the finely chopped parsley over. Drag the potatoes through the sauce as you eat, and use them to scoop up the last of it.