Recipe- Polpette Di Bollito Italian Recipe Of Roman Tradition

Polpette (meatballs) di Bollito is an Italian recipe of Roman tradition. They were created as a way to ‘recycle’ or use up the meat left over after making broth. ‘Bollito’ is basically boiled meat, mostly beef, but chicken and tongue is also often used too. These ‘polpette’ were made using just beef. The cut of beef you use is important and I use the ‘Cappello di Prete’ which translates to the priest’s hat….. But it’s actually beef shoulder.

These polpette are breadcrumbed and then fried. You can then add them to a tomato pasta sauce, but we ate them as soon as they were fried. I also roasted sweet potato and they complimented the polpette perfectly.

Ingredients

800g beef
3-4 carrots
2 onions
5 celery ribs
6 eggs
bunch of parsley
salt & pepper
5 tablespoons Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano)
150ml milk
flour
80g fresh breadcrumbs (chunks of day old rustic bread)
Dried breadcrumbs
oil for frying (I use half olive oil & half peanut oil)

Method

* Peel the carrots and the onions and cut into large pieces.

* In a large saucepan, cook the meat cut into 2 or 3 pieces for a couple of hours covered with plenty of water, the celery, onion, carrots, salt & pepper.

* Remove the meat. Pass the broth through a sieve keeping all the vegetables. Freeze the broth for another recipe (perfect for risotto). Place the vegetables in a food processor and process until smooth.

* Chop the meat into small pieces. Some people also use a food processor for this but I personally am not a fan to have the meat purèed.

* Soak the bread in a bowl with the milk for 5 minutes and then squeeze the milk from the bread. Roughly chop the parsley.

* Beat 4 eggs together.

* Mix together the chopped beef, the vegetables, the beaten egg, the bread and Pecorino Romano until everything is incorporated. If you think the mixture is too wet or sticky, add a few tablespoons of dry breadcrumbs.

* Prepare 3 bowls of flour, dried breadcrumbs & 2 beaten eggs.

* Roll the meat mixture into balls. Cover with flour first, beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs. Continue until all the mixture is finished.

* Heat abundant oil in a large, deep frying pan and fry the meatballs a little at a time, until they are golden brown all over. Drain on absorbent kitchen towel and eat immediately.

* You can freeze the meatballs raw, and also freeze the raw mixture, and make the meatballs at a later date.

* Cooked meatballs can be re-heated in the oven at 180°C for 20 min.