Starring alongside Romy Schneider in the film “10:30 P.M. Summer” — based on the novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras and directed by Jules Dassin — Melina Mercouri was already, by 1966, confirming her status as a beloved figure not only of the Greek but also of the French public. The couple’s friendships with French intellectuals were well known — as was Duras’s fondness for the famously charismatic Melina.

In the book “Duras – La cuisine de Marguerite”, published in 2023 by Benoît Jacob Editions, the author looks back on thirty recipes — mainly Asian but also European — that she loved to cook for friends visiting her country house in Nauphle-le-Château.

Among them is a recipe by Melina, one of three meatball recipes featured in the book, along with a handwritten page from her own notebook.

The recipe, complete with Melina’s notes, is reproduced exactly as it appeared — nearly 60 years after it was first cooked in a hotel suite.

Ingredients:
Minced beef, 3 small finely chopped onions, 2 whole eggs, 2 handfuls of cooked rice, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, thyme, lemon, grated Parmesan.

“The sauce for these meatballs accompanied the Greek Melina on all her travels around the world. She made it by mixing water, butter, and peeled tomatoes. We cook everything together for half an hour. Then we thicken it with two whole eggs. Add cream and — brace yourselves — Worcestershire sauce.
I’ve never eaten them anywhere else but at the George V, where Melina had a suite,” writes Duras.

She adds:

“Their two friends, the maids, cooked Greek dishes in the hotel room. They were wonderful, the best. I’ve never known a happier place than Melina’s suite at the George V. That’s where I met people like them. Melina and Jules Dassin are among the most lovable people of my life. The greatest laughter of my life was with Melina in Madrid, when Delon, who had come to greet me, couldn’t understand why we were laughing. We laughed for no reason — just seeing each other made us burst out laughing.”

Reading through the recipe, one concludes that it’s most likely a version of “giouvarlakia” (Greek meatballs in sauce) — a dish and a word obviously unfamiliar to the French writer — rather than typical fried meatballs.