New cooking TV series with meatball king Wim Ballieu

No dish stimulates the taste buds and imagination of a true foodie quite like the meatball. From a trucker’s meatball in fatty gravy to a haute cuisine meatball (such as Kranenborg’s ‘boulette de viande en croute’). And when making your ultimate meatball, all sorts of things can go wrong.

In the new five-part TV series Bal National on cooking channel njam!, chef and meatball authority Wim Ballieu pays tribute to the meatball and shares his best tips and recipes. You may know Ballieu from Balls & Glory, the meatball restaurants with which he conquered Belgium. Or you may know him from one of his cooking programmes, such as De Streken van Wim, for which he recently took a culinary road trip through the Netherlands.

Stuffed meatballs

How do you make the most delicious meatballs? Which minced meat should you use? Firm or nice and loose? With rich gravy like Grandma makes, or filled with a creamy sauce? A classic Dutch or Flemish meatball? Or Italian-style, Spanish meatballs or Surinamese meatballs? Or with lamb and za’atar? Or would you prefer a contemporary meat-free veggie meatball with pumpkin?

Raclette cheese and bacon

Wim’s trademark is stuffed meatballs. Think of a meatball filled with raclette cheese and bacon, covered in raclette cheese (lots of cheese!). Or a chicken meatball filled with pumpkin and goat’s cheese. And a meatball filled with ragout, Wim’s take on vol-au-vent. Also legendary: Wim’s Bal Stroganoff, a pork meatball filled with tomato & bell pepper. Wim is a butcher’s son and grew up in the butcher’s shop. Together with his mother and aunt, he discovered the world of cooking in their butcher’s shop and eatery.

Liège meatball

Classics such as the Liège meatball (‘boulets liégeois’) and meatballs in tomato sauce also feature in the programme. But surprising combinations also make an appearance, such as a meatball with black olives and anchovies or a chicken meatball filled with tikka masala. In addition to classic pork, beef or veal, the TV chef also rolls meatballs made with minced chicken, minced fish and vegetarian mince. In short: an ode to the meatball in all its forms.

Broadcasts

Every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. there is a new episode (with repeats the same day at 4:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.) on njam! Five episodes in total (starting 24 January). The programme is broadcast on cooking channel njam! on channel 39 (via KPN’s basic package). All episodes can also be watched via www.njam.tv.

Watch a preview here.

(recipe)
Italian-style stuffed meatballs with pasta

What you need for the meatballs

For the stuffed meatballs:
• 750 g pork and veal mince
• 100 g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
• 100 g Parmesan cheese (a block)
• a splash of olive oil

For the Italian tomato sauce:
• 700 g tomato passata or diced tomatoes
• 2 large shallots (or onions)
• 1 clove of garlic
• a sprig of fresh basil
• a splash of olive oil
• pepper and salt
• to taste: 1 tbsp sugar

For the pasta:
• 500 g spaghetti
• a pinch of salt (for the cooking water)
• a splash of olive oil

How to make the meatballs

Rolling and stuffing the meatballs
• Roll the mince into meatballs of around 120–140 g each.
• Cut a block of Parmesan into bite-sized pieces and keep the peas at hand.
• Take a meatball in one hand, press a hollow into the centre with the other hand and add a few pieces of Parmesan and some peas.
• Shape the meat around the filling and roll the meatball perfectly round again.
• Heat a splash of olive oil in a large casserole or deep frying pan.
• Brown the meatballs all over.
• Remove them from the pot and use it to make the sauce.

Italian tomato sauce
• Finely chop the shallots and garlic.
• Sauté them briefly in the meatball cooking fat and add the tomato passata (or diced tomatoes).
• Bring the sauce up to heat and add the pre-browned meatballs. Add a generous sprig of basil to the pot as well.
• Season with pepper and salt and let everything simmer over low heat for around 15 minutes.
• Remove the basil sprig from the sauce. Taste and add a pinch of sugar if desired.

Cooking the pasta
• Cook the spaghetti until al dente in plenty of water with a pinch of salt.
• Drain and stir through a splash of olive oil if desired.

Finishing
• Finish the plates with torn basil leaves and, optionally, some extra Parmesan crumbs.

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