allspice+garlic+pork+tomato
Maybe it’s just me, but when I think of allspice, it’s typically when I’m baking, especially around the holidays. While I have used it in savory dishes before, using my savory brain for it with garlic, pork and tomatoes was a really fun challenge.
The #1 thing I continue to learn through this journey is balance – thinking through what I know about the ingredients, how strongly they taste on their own, what dishes I’ve had/made where something has overpowered something else. Not every dish has to have a perfect balance but when it does, there’s a special kind of satisfaction in that.
When I started thinking about this dish, I knew I wanted allspice, garlic and pork in the meatballs and then I also wanted a lightly spiced tomato sauce to tie them both together BUT I knew that I could over allspice this pretty quickly if I wasn’t careful.
So all that being said, I was really proud when I hit the right balance on the first try with this one! Allspice is a LOUD spice – there’s a reason why you typically see only 1/4 tsp or 1/2 tsp used in seasonal baking recipes. It doesn’t take much for its voice to be heard. In this recipe, I went a little heavier both due to the amount of meat and stronger flavors of tomato and garlic that would be competing with the allspice for balance.
Speaking of garlic, let’s talk about the magical transformation that happens to garlic when it is roasted (so is also true about roasting other foods!). Fresh garlic is almost spicy in terms of how it feels to your taste buds – pungent and sharp. Roasting garlic in the oven at a slow steady temperature kicks off chemical reactions that turn roasted garlic cloves into a sweet, soft mellow garlic loveliness.
- Transforming inulin into fructose – Raw garlic doesn’t really have any sugar but it does have a compound called inulin. This compound doesn’t really impact the flavor to us but as garlic is roasted, the inulin converts to fructose.
- Caramelizing the fructose – once the inulin has been converted to fructose, it will caramelize and bring those lovely nutty sweet notes into the savory flavor of garlic
- Neutralizing the allicin – allicin are enzymes within garlic that are a bit like a defense mechanism. The allicin compound is what creates that spice flavor when garlic cells are damaged (so cutting or chopping as an example). By roasting the garlic in it’s own skin, we are minimizing the reaction of this enzyme.
Roasting garlic is actually a really simple process but it elevates your dishes to the next level!
Pork is more of a background flavor and texture here versus something that is front and center. The flavor of the pork does still come through these meatballs but it’s as much flavor as it is the juiciness and texture that conveys the pork.
Canned crushed tomatoes have their level of strong taste so cooking these down for 30+ minutes is key to remove some of that tinny flavor. I added a little pumpkin puree here because I thought it might help with the allspice flavor and also add just a very small amount of sweetness to the acid from the tomato sauce.
Could you cook down fresh tomatoes? If you are in late summer with a plethora of fresh tomatoes to use, go for it! However, depending on the types of tomatoes you have, you may want to add a little tomato paste to add some more body as sometimes I find certain tomatoes don’t pack as much punch in the flavor department. You can solve this by cooking the sauce longer and letting more of the water evaporate as well – depends how much time you want to spend on this!
Additionally, you may want to play around with the salt levels in this recipe if you’re using fresh tomatoes – canned tomatoes typically have a higher level of sodium and the salt measurements I’ve included here are using that as a base. Regardless of what you are using, I’m a HUGE advocate of taste as you go – my general rule in COOKING (not baking) is that you add 50%-75% of the recommended salt amount and add more if needed. Adding more is certainly easier than removing it.
That being said though, let me tell you my favorite hack for fixing an overly salted sauce or soup! Potatoes LOVE salt and will absorb the salt of any liquid they are placed in. If you make a sauce or soup and determine it is just too salty for you, throw in a chunk of raw potato and let cook for 5-10 minutes in there. It will absorb some of the salt of the sauce and rebalance your sauce to hopefully a salty level you are more comfortable with. I can’t guarantee that it fixes ALL salty situations but it definitely can help 🙂
In terms of a savory use for allspice, I absolutely loved how these came out. I’m already thinking of other dishes that I could make with this flavor combination to play around more with how these flavors work together!
allspice+garlic+pork+tomato
Now it’s your turn! What would you make with this flavor combination? Tell me in the comments!
Printpork allspice meatballs in a spiced tomato sauce
pork, allspice and garlic combine into a luscious meatball swimming in a lightly spiced tomato sauce. perfect over egg noodles, mashed potatoes or pasta of your choice!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 24–30 meatballs 1x
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2lbs ground pork
- 2 heads garlic, with the tops cut off
- 4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
Tomato Sauce
Instructions
Roasted Garlic
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. On one larger square of foil, place both heads of garlic in the center, drizzle both with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch salt. Wrap the heads tightly with the foil and place on the center oven rack for about 20-30 minutes. The garlic is done when the bulbs are soft and squeezable – remove from the oven and let cool until they are cool enough to handle.
Meatballs
In a medium bowl, add ground pork, salt, allspice, pepper, eggs and bread crumbs. Holding the heads of garlic at the bottom, squeeze from the bottom up on the cloves to squeeze the roasted garlic into the bowl. Using your hands, mix everything together until the pork has incorporated all the other ingredients evenly. Roll mixture into 1-2″ balls using your hands and line up on a cookie sheet or cutting board.
Heat a medium skillet (cast-iron works great if you have it!) over medium head and add about 2 tbsp of olive oil or butter. Add a layer of meatballs to the skillet and cook for about 10 minutes, rotating around occasionally so the sides cook evenly. Repeat until all meatballs are cooked – this was about 2 layers for me in my medium large cast-iron skillet.
While the first set of meatballs is cooking, combine all sauce ingredients into a large pot and mix until combined. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Once each layer of meatballs finishes cooking, add the meatballs to the sauce. Once all the meatballs are in the sauce, cover the pot with a lid and let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for about 20 minutes.
Serve over egg noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.
Looking for other recipes that use allspice, garlic, pork or tomato? Check out my other recipes below!
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