Serves: 6
Prep: 10min
Cooking: 30min
Difficulty: easy-medium
In my family no food goes to waste, not even stale bread. My mum would keep a bag in a kitchen drawer to collect the stale bread of the week and as soon as she has enough she would make Polpette, meatballs in Italian. I have prepared these soft mouthwatering Polpette with sauce for one of Mamma Flora’s Supper Club, and the guests absolutely loved them!
Mamma Flora’s tip: For us Polpette al sugo are a main dish, you can serve them with a side of potato or maybe a salad. We don't serve them on pasta but in case you really want to try, then make them very small.
The key to the softness is the bread soaked in milk
Ingredients:
- 500gr minced beef
- 400gr loaf
- 250gr minced pork
- 30gr grated parmigiano
- 30gr grated pecorino romano (replace with parmigiano if not found)
- 4eggs
- 2 glasses of milk (replace with water if you prefer)
- 1 glass of oil for deep frying
- Salt and pepper
For the sauce:
- 700gr tomato passata
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion
Tools:
- 2 big bowls
- 1 pan
- 1 pot
- Kitchen paper
Method:
For the tomato sauce:
- Gently heat the olive oil with ½ onion in a pot, as soon as it’s warm pour the tomato passata, salt it and leave to cook for 20min
For the meatballs:
- While the sauce is cooking, cut the bread in big chunks and place in a bowl, pour the milk on top and leave to soak for 10min. After that, remove the crust and squeeze the crumbs in your hands to remove extra milk, place in another bowl
- Add to the bowl with squeezed bread crumbs, the meat, the eggs, the parmigiano and pecorino, salt and pepper and with your hands start to mix everything together. The result should be an homogenous mix
- Roll the mixture in medium sized balls
- Place a pan with frying oil on medium heat
- As soon as it’s warm (when you see bubbles forming), fry the meatballs. 3min each side. We don’t want them perfectly cooked as we will finish the cooking in the tomato sauce
- Place them in a dish with kitchen paper and remove the extra grease
- Add them in the pot with tomato sauce and gently heat the tomato sauce and the meatballs together for 10min
- Serve these amazingly soft meatballs with potato side or salad and enjoy!
