Italian Meatball-Style Sub at Home

Ingredients

Home-kitchen amounts for 2 — standard home-cooking quantities for this dish, not the chain’s recipe (chains do not publish theirs). Difficulty: Medium.

• 300 g beef mince (80/20)
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
• 1½ cups (375 ml) marinara sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 long white sub rolls (about 30 cm each)
• 4 slices provolone or mozzarella
• Salt and cracked pepper

Method

1. Stir the breadcrumbs and milk together and leave 5 minutes until absorbed — this panade is what makes the meatballs soft instead of springy.
2. Mix in the beef, parmesan, egg, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Roll into 8 small balls.
3. Bake at 200°C for 15–18 minutes until the centres reach 71°C.
4. Warm the marinara with the sugar and oregano — Subway’s sauce reads noticeably sweet and oregano-heavy — then simmer the baked meatballs in it 8–10 minutes.
5. Split the rolls, lay the cheese on the bread first, then spoon in 4 meatballs and sauce per roll. Grill 2 minutes until the cheese melts. Tip: cheese on the bread first is the Subway trick — it fuses to the roll and stops the sauce soaking through the bottom — and do not skip the sugar in the sauce, it is the single biggest flavour cue.