Start by making the meatballs. Cut the bread in chunks with the hands, and soak it in the milk. Smash using a fork or pestle. Crush the garlic with the parsley in a mortar and pestle, until they’re well crushed. Add the soaked bread, a tiny bit of wine (approx. 1 tbsp) to the mortar, and combine all the ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, add the meat with the rest of the ingredients. Combine well with your hands, until all the ingredients have blended.

Add a generous amount of chickpea flour to a plate. Grab a bit of the meat with a tablespoon, and form the meatballs with your fingers (I like the meatballs quite small, but this is a personal preference). Roll over the chickpea flour, and transfer to a tray or plate. You might want to put baking paper or spread a bit of extra flour to avoid the meatballs sticking to the plate/tray.

Repeat this process until you’ve used all the meat. You should end up with approximately 60 small meatballs.

Pour olive oil to a large pot and bring it to boil. The olive oil should be approx. 1-2 fingers high, to cover half the height of the meatballs. Fry the meatballs in small batches, so there is enough space around. Cook for approx. 1 minute on each side, until they’re nicely golden brown.

Make the sauce. Clean the oil with a thin strainer. Add the onion to the oil with a pinch of salt, and cook on medium-high for approx. 15 minutes until it becomes soft. Pour the tomato, wine and bay leaves, stir to combine, and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour the stock little by little, stirring to combine. Bring it to boil and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Using a skimmer, grab all the onion from the sauce, and transfer it to a food mill. Place the food mill over the pot, and mash the onion. The sauce will look quite liquid at the beginning, but it will thicken later. Add the meatballs to the sauce, and once it starts boiling cook for another 5 minutes.