Meatballs recipe

Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes

Meatballs (Polpette di carne)

A delicious crowd pleaser, these traditional meatballs are easy to make and have the authentic taste of Italy.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 650 kcal

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Ingredients
 

  • 500 grams (1.1 lb) minced beef
  • 2 Eggs (medium size)
  • 50 grams (2 oz) Breadcrumbs (finely grated)
  • 50 grams (2 oz) Pecorino Romano cheese (freshly grated) – alternatively you can use Parmesan cheese
  • 1 Clove of garlic (finely chopped)
  • 2 grams (1/2 tsp) Salt
  • 1 gram (1/2 tsp) Ground black pepper
  • 60 ml (2 fl oz) Extra virgin olive oil
  • A small handful of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)

Ingredients for the gravy (Metric & Imperial measurements):

  • 1 Small sized onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 Clove of garlic (finely chopped)
  • 60 grams (2 ½ oz) Tomato purèe
  • 450 grams (1 lb) Chopped tomatoes (usually 1 can)
  • 150 ml (5 fl oz) Hot water for the gravy preparation

For the final stage:

  • 600 ml (1 pint – 2 1/2 cups) Hot water
  • Salt and ground pepper for seasoning
  • A couple of sprigs of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)

Instructions

  • We start preparing the meatballs combining all the ingredients (except the olive oil) in a large bowl. Add the eggs to the meat firstly.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Mix thoroughly to evenly distribute the eggs with the meat.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add the Pecorino Romano cheese.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add the breadcrumbs.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add the chopped parsley and garlic.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add the salt.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Finally, add the black pepper and mix thoroughly together in order to combine all the ingredients. At this stage I find easy to blend the ingredients by hand like working on a pasta dough.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Then, start making your balls. Remember to compress the ball with your hands so they are very compact and will not crack. This is important because a ball with any cracks, or not compact enough, may break during the shallow frying stage.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Now, heat the 60 ml of olive oil (1/4 cup) in a large frying pan and fry the meatballs over medium heat until golden brown.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • If the meatballs stick to the bottom of the pan, you may use a non-stick frying pan or you can fry the meatballs two at a time and keep rolling them in the hot oil.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Place the meatballs on a new clean plate or a tray.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Do not discard the olive oil but filter it into a small bowl in order to remove the residue created when frying the meatballs.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Now, add the filtered oil to the cleaned frying pan because now we are going to prepare the gravy.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • In the frying pan, heat the reserved oil, add the chopped onion and garlic and a sweat off for about 2 minutes.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Then, add the tomato purèe…
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • …and cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Then, add 150 ml (5/8 cup) of hot water to the frying pan and…
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • …cook for one minute, stirring. The gravy is done, so remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Now, it's time to deal with the final stage of the recipe. In a large saucepan (also a casserole would do the job), add the chopped tomatoes and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Then, add the gravy (tomato purèe mixture) from the frying pan.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add the reserved browned meatballs.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Cover with hot water. In my case, I used a very large saucepan so to cover the meatballs I needed 600 ml (1 pint – 2 1/2 cups) of water. A slightly smaller saucepan would probably require less water, I would say 400 ml (3/4 pint – 1 3/4 cups).
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add the chopped parsley.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add a pinch of salt.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Add a pinch of black pepper.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Mix thoroughly, but carefully, with a wooden spoon, so as to not break the meatballs. Now, cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, then…
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • …cover (leaving one side of the lid slightly open) and simmer for about 2 1/2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes to prevent sticking on bottom of the pan. Also, when doing that, turn the meatballs so the part that was in the top will get the next 20 minutes cooking facing the bottom and keep going like that until the end. After 1 1/2 hours simmering, check for seasoning; usually you need to add some salt.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes
  • Serve the meatballs on a plate along with crusty Italian bread and, of course, a good bottle of red wine.
    Meatballs (Polpette di carne) | Meat Recipes

Nutrition

Calories: 650kcal
Keyword Meat
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Equip your kitchen – Available at Amazon now

Italian Apron
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Categorised as Meat

By Federico

Federico Pezzaioli is an ex-badass Italian Paratrooper on a mission - to make creating delicious authentic Italian food really easy. He researches, writes and photographs each recipe with the same attention to detail he used to apply to packing his parachute.

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