Mamma's Wild Fennel Meatballs

• 700g minced meat (mixed, if you want the full flavour)
• 2 eggs (the real ones, with the yellow yolk that smells like a happy hen)
• Breadcrumbs to taste (as much as you need to keep your soul from sticking)
• 2 medium potatoes (not giant, not mignon – balanced, like grandma's)
• 3 carrots (sweet, fresh, no pre-made sticks)
• 1 bunch of wild fennel (picked under the warm sun. If you buy them, don't tell anyone)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced until tender)
• Salt to taste (without fear, but with judgment)
• 1 glass of white wine (the kind you would drink, not the sad kitchen kind)
• Olive oil for the pan (don't skimp, the meatballs must swim happily)

1. Boil fennel, potatoes and carrots with 4 fingers of salted water. When they are soft, drain them and keep that precious water aside (the magic broth).

2. Blend the vegetables until they become a cream. It doesn't have to be smooth like a velouté, but it doesn't have to be like a plowed field either.

3. In a bowl combine the meat, the finely chopped garlic, the eggs, the breadcrumbs, the salt and the vegetable cream. Mix with your hands, because the hands understand things that the spoon does not.

4. Correct the consistency with more breadcrumbs, until the dough smiles at you. Then form the meatballs as if you were making promises.

5. In a pan with oil and garlic, brown them well. They must have a thin crust, but present: like "I'm good, but I know how to defend myself".

6. Blend with white wine, high flame, without lid. Inhaling the aroma is part of the recipe.

7. Add vegetable broth until halfway up the meatballs. Cover and cook until a light and tender cream forms.

💬 Grandma's note:

“Meatballs are not counted, they are stolen from the plate when no one is looking.”