Mitraillette is a sandwich from Belgium which manages to combine two very Belgian ingredients: fries and mayo! All this is packed into a baguette and served with sliced meatballs and onions
If you don’t want to make the meatballs, you can always substitute them with a beef burger or some sliced sausage which isn’t uncommon in the friteries of Brussels.
You can make the meatballs and the onions in advance which means this recipe is pretty quick to put together when people arrive
Start off by making the meatballs. In a large bowl add the pork mince, grated onion and apple, parsley, breadcrumbs, nutmeg and the seasoning. Give it a good mix with your hands first and then add in the whole egg and combine thoroughly
Make the meat into large meatballs and pop in the fridge to chill for about half an hour. This will help them keep their shape when cooking
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C as we’ll finish the meatballs in the oven
In a large frying pan, add some oil and warm to a medium heat. Add the chilled meatballs and begin to brown all over. When browned, remove from the pan and place in a baking dish and pop in the oven for about 15 minutes until cooked at which point remove from the oven
In the frying pan used to cook the meatballs, add the butter and melt before throwing in the onions and cooking them until caramelised on a low heat at which point remove them
Make the ‘Samurai sauce’ by adding the mayonnaise and chilli paste into a bowl and mixing and pop this in the fridge until needed
To make this, you’ll have to cook your French fries/chips. I far prefer frying them as they get a crunchier coating but oven fries/chips work just as well. Choose whichever method your happiest with
While your fries/chips are cooking slice the meat balls up and leave to one side
Slice the demi-baguettes in half lengthways to open them up. Don’t cut all the way through or this gets real messy, real fast
Once the fries/chips are cooked layer the sliced meatballs on the bottom layer of the baguette, top with some caramelised onions, add a handful of the fries/chips and then top with the Samurai sauce
Serve this on a plate with a fork because you’ll need to eat a few of the sauce slathered fries/chips first before you can close this beast and tuck in