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TUSCAN MEAT BALLS - Elizabeth Romer

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Polpette
Tuscany
Preparation - Easy
Serves 2

Like many wonderful Italian recipes, meatballs were invented to use up leftovers - in this case chicken. The recipe is taken from Elizabeth Romer's delightful "The Tuscan Year".

To make her Polpette, which she and Sauro might also eat if they are lunching alone, Silvana uses about

INGREDIENTS:
  • 150 g or 5 1/2 oz of boiled potato
  • 100 g or 3 1/2 oz of cooked breast of chicken
  • 100 g or 3 1/2 oz of mortadella sausage
  • 50 g or 2 oz of grated pecorino or parmigiano cheese
  • one spoonful of finely chopped parsley
  • one clove of garlic
  • salt and black pepper
  • one egg
  • breadcrumbs
  • arachide (peanut) oil for frying
OO Mixing bowl, frying pan.

METHOD:
  1. In a mixing bowl Silvana mashes up the potatoes well, and adds the chicken breast, chopped very finely.
  2. Next she adds the mortadella, also chopped finely, and then the grated cheese, mixing the ingredients well as she goes.
  3. Then she sprinkles in the parsley and finely chopped garlic and seasons the mixture with lots of black pepper and some salt.
  4. Finally she binds the paste together with an egg. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed she divides the mixture into small balls or sausages, whichever takes her fancy.
  5. She rolls the polpette in breadcrumbs and fries them a few at a time in a pan of bubbling arachide oil.
  6. When the polpette are a golden brown she drains them thoroughly and arranges them on a serving dish garnished with wedges of lemon.
They make a lovely luncheon dish served with a peppery salad, maybe of rocket (arugula) - and some cold white wine.