There are no strict rules for meatballs, as my 15 years of professional cooking experience at various magazine test kitchens and cooking for food photography shoots have showed me. Meatballs, in essence, are just meat, seasonings and a binder. They can be mixed delicately or vigorously, made from a meat substitute, flavored with a variety of ingredients (herbs, spices, cheeses) and cooked any number of ways. But while there's no single formula, there are a few principles for ingredients and techniques that,
That fading sweetness pairs beautifully with the first flush of wild blackberries, however, and this galette makes the most of that overlap: slices of peach and a handful of blackberries sit on a gently sweetened ricotta base that's flavoured with brown sugar, orange zest and a few sprigs of thyme. The ricotta bakes into something soft and creamy that catches those juices as the fruits slump. Peach, blackberry, ricotta and thyme galette This is best served when barely warm, with vanilla ice-cream.