Hunter's meatballs with mashed potatoes

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 stale roll
• 100 ml milk
• 100 ml water, lukewarm
• 15 g porcini mushrooms, dried
• 200 ml water, warm
• 300 g mixed mushrooms
• 2 onions
• 6 stalks of thyme
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 8 tbsp oil
• 600 g minced veal
• 1 egg(s) (size M)
• 1 egg yolk (size M)
• 1 tbsp mustard, medium hot
• some salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 50 ml red wine
• 300 ml whipped cream
• ½ tsp paprika powder, hot
• 800 g potatoes, floury
• salt water
• 120 ml milk (whole milk)
• 2 tbsp butter
• some salt and pepper
• some nutmeg, freshly grated
• 40 g Parmesan, finely grated

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

To make the hunter’s meatballs, soak the bread roll in 100 ml of milk and 100 ml of lukewarm water, turning once. Soak the porcini mushrooms in 200 ml of warm water. Clean and slice the mixed mushrooms. Peel and finely dice the onions. Pluck the thyme leaves from the stems and chop them. Chop the parsley as well. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Sauté half of the onions until translucent, then briefly sauté the thyme and half of the parsley. Squeeze the bread roll well with your hands, knead it with the minced meat, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon of medium-hot mustard, and the onion and herb mixture, and season with salt and pepper. Using wet hands, form the mixture into equal-sized meatballs. Heat 6 tablespoons of oil in a large ovenproof pan. Fry the meatballs on both sides until light brown, remove from the pan, and fry the remaining onions in the pan over high heat. Add the mushroom slices and fry for 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste to the mushrooms, fry briefly, and deglaze with the red wine. Add the remaining parsley and the heavy cream, season with a little salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of hot paprika, and bring to a boil. Squeeze out the soaked porcini mushrooms and chop finely. Add to the sauce along with half of the soaking water. Pour the sauce into a roasting pan or casserole dish and place the meatballs side by side on top. Cook in a hot oven at 180°C (top/bottom heat, fan-assisted oven is not recommended) on the middle rack for 20 minutes. If children are eating with you, simply replace the red wine with meat broth. For the mashed potatoes, peel, wash, and roughly dice the potatoes, then cover and boil in a pot of salted water for about 20 minutes. Drain and allow the steam to evaporate thoroughly. Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan and melt the butter. Press the potatoes through a potato ricer twice. Add the milk mixture and season with salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg. Add the finely grated Parmesan cheese and whisk until smooth.