Meat in the Middle
This recipe hails from the video game Horizon: Forbidden West. In the game, it’s called Meat in the Middle but I refer to it as Meatball Wellingtons. The game describes this dish as . . .
A hearty Oseram meal made by wrapping dough around a skewer of ground wild meat, that’s baked until golden brown.
We’ll be making a quick and easy version of this, minus the skewers.
Ingredients
Marinara Sauce (your favorite store-bought)
1 lb ground beef (80 - 90% lean)
1 egg
½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
½ onion diced
4-6 oz mozzarella, cut into ½ inch cubes
Store-bought puff pastry, thawed
1 egg-yolk for egg-wash
Walkthrough
Preheat your oven to 400*F.
Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly grease it. You don’t want your meatballs to stick.
In a medium bowl, combine the beef, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion. Mix it up well.
Using a scale (or just eyeball it) roll out 16 meatballs.
Next, insert one mozzarella cube into your ball. Make sure to reseal it as best as you can.
Pop your meatballs into the oven for 20 minutes and then take them out, leaving them on the pan to cool.
While the meatballs are cooling, it’s time to prep your pastry dough. You’re going to want to create a square shape with your dough that’s roughly 3.5” by 3.5”. If you’ve got two sheets, like I did in the video, you can cut them into 9 squares for a total of 18 squares. Yes, it leads to waste but I found it to be the best method for getting the right amount of squares.
Now it’s time to assemble. Take a meatball and place it in the center of a pastry square. Fold and tuck the dough around the meatball. Finally, place it seem side down. (Watch the video at 4:24 to see how I did it.)
When all your meatballs are done, prepare a quick egg wash using 1 egg yolk and about 1 tablespoon of water. Mix and brush onto your puff pastry.
Pop them into the oven for an additional 20 minutes, placing them on a cooling rack when done. At this point, you are just making sure that your puff pastry is baked.
Serve alongside your favorite marinara sauce. (Although my sister really liked it with ranch.)
