Polpette – made from meat, fish or vegetables – can either be prepared from leftovers or made with fresh ingredients. Mario Matassa shares this classic dish…
Polpette (small, round patties) can be made from meat, fish or vegetables, and can either be cooked in a tomato sauce or fried.
Traditionally they were prepared from leftovers, although their popularity today is such that they are also made with fresh ingredients. What’s common to all polpette is that they are flavoured with a healthy handful of grated cheese and bound together with an egg.
Living in Emilia, a Sunday favourite is meat-stuffed ravioli in a freshly-made chicken and beef broth. It’s a bit of a laborious enterprise because the broth should be made the day before, leaving time for it to cool overnight so that any excess fat can be skimmed off the top. However, your efforts are rewarded, and any extra broth can be recycled in risottos, minestrone and stew.
As for the boiled meat, known as bollito in Italian, some people enjoy this after their pasta. Personally, I find it bland like that and prefer to leave it to cool and use it the next day. The meat is then cleaned from the bone, chopped, flavoured with herbs, seasoned well, then breaded and fried as polpette.
Children love polpette and, served with greens and boiled potatoes, they make for a healthy meal.
Italian Meatballs | Polpette
➤ SERVES: 4
➤ PREPARATION: 15 minutes
➤ COOKING: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 350g leftover boiled or roast meat (chicken, turkey or beef)
- 2 slices of day-old bread
- A few tablespoons of milk
- 80g Parmesan, grated
- 1 free-range egg
- A sprig of rosemary and sage, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Grated zest of ½ an unwaxed lemon
- Olive oil, for frying
Method
- Put the meat in a food processor and whizz it up for a minute, until it has been finely chopped. Or you could chop it by hand if you like. Place the chopped meat in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add the stale bread and a few tablespoons of milk. Leave for a few moments, until the bread has softened. Add the cheese, egg, bread, herbs, seasoning and lemon zest to the meat and mix together well. The mix should be a consistency that allows you to mould small meatballs with your hands. If it is too wet, add a few dry breadcrumbs; if it is too dry, add a little milk. Form meatballs from the mixture, until the mixture is all used up.
- Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, then fry the meatballs over a medium heat on all sides, until browned and cooked through.
Got more to use up? Find more Italian recipes for leftovers
Words and recipe by Mario Matassa