Gennaro Contaldo: Polpette Della Quaresima

20 minutes

Makes appox 12

Taken from Gennaro’s Hidden Italy: Regional Recipes to Treasure for Generations by Gennaro Contaldo (Pavilion)

Lenten ‘meatballs’

When I was a child, we would often have polpette (dumplings), made from stale bread and cheese, especially on Fridays and during Lent when meat was forbidden. To me, it’s a shame that this dish has declined in popularity over the years, with the preference for minced meat taking centre stage in most meatball recipes, as here, the bread and ricotta make the polpette so soft they almost melt in your mouth. This is delicious cooked in a tomato sauce and served with a green side salad for a meat-free meal.

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Method

First make the polpette.

In a large bowl, combine the bread, Parmesan, ricotta, eggs, garlic and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Using your hands, take pieces of the mixture and roll into balls, roughly the size of golf balls – approx. 40 g (1½ oz) each in weight. Set aside.

In a pan (large enough to accommodate the polpette), place the olive oil over a medium heat and sweat the garlic cloves for a minute. Add the tomato passata, along with a little water from rinsing the jar or carton, and the basil and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the sauce begins to bubble, then add the polpette, cover with a lid and cook over a medium-low heat for 20 minutes, checking from time to time to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan and gently covering them with the tomato sauce.

At the end of the cooking time, increase the heat and cook for a minute or so until the sauce reduces a little.

Remove from the heat and serve with extra basil leaves scattered on top.

Image credit: David Loftus.