Polpette Napoletane Recipes

Steps:

• Put the bread in a small mixing bowl, cover with milk, and leave to soak.
• Chop the parsley and garlic together. Put meat into a large mixing bowl. Squeeze the milk out of the bread and add to meat. Add parsley and garlic. Use your hands to mix the ingredients. Break eggs into the mixture to bind it. Keep mixing. Add the pecorino. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Shape meatballs by hand, make a hole in the top and insert a small piece of mozzarella. Cover it up and pat meatball into shape. Roll them in bread crumbs. Pour olive oil into a frying pan and when it's really hot, fry the meatballs for 5 minutes, or until they have formed a crust. Then turn over. When golden brown and crusty on both sides remove the meatballs from the pan and drain on paper towels.
• Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce, cover and cook very slowly on low heat for 45 minutes, until the sauce is reduced by half.
• Pour enough oil into a saucepan to cover the surface. Add garlic and 3 tins of tomatoes, mashing them slightly. Boil the sauce for 5 minutes and simmer for another 3 minutes.
• Cooking Time: 8 minutes

Steps:

• Heat a grill pan over medium heat.
• Mix together the ricotta, breadcrumbs, milk, oregano, salt, chili paste and egg in a medium bowl to combine. Add the beef, Parmesan and parsley and mix just to combine. Form a scant 1/4 cup of meat mixture around the top part of a skewer. Continue with the remaining meat mixture and skewers.
• Grill the kababs until deep brown and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Remove to a platter and serve with the warmed marinara.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix together the beef, pork, cheese, breadcrumbs, milk, parsley, salt, pepper and eggs in a large bowl, then roll into small balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes.
• Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 350 degrees F. Fry meatballs for 1 minute. Top with your favorite marinara and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Steps:

• Soak the bread in the milk for a few minutes, and remove excess milk by squeezing the bread with your hands. Break up the bread into small pieces and add to a mixing bowl with the ground pork, ground beef, raisins, pine nuts, parsley, basil, Parmigiano cheese, and salt and pepper.
• Add the eggs, and mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. With your hands, shape the meatballs into the size of golf balls.
• In a large pot, heat the extra-virgin olive oil and cook the onion until translucent. Add the wine, and tomato puree, and bring it to a boil. Add the uncooked meatballs to the pot and let cook on medium heat until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the celery stalks into 2-inch pieces (reserve the leaves). Boil the celery until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water, then spin in a salad spinner and pat dry. Pulse the celery in a food processor until chopped. Squeeze handfuls of the puree in a kitchen towel to remove excess water.
• Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery puree, 1/3 cup parsley, 2 teaspoons minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until soft, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool. Reserve the skillet.
• Mix the eggs, breadcrumbs and parmesan into the celery mixture. Roll into about 16 small balls; refrigerate until firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Heat the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery balls and cook, turning, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off half of the oil from the skillet. Add the tomato paste, the remaining 1 teaspoon minced garlic and the red pepper flakes; cook over medium heat until the garlic starts to brown, about 1 minute. Add 2/3 cup water and whisk until emulsified, about 30 seconds. Return the celery balls to the sauce and heat through. Add the reserved celery leaves and the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley.

Steps:

• Remove the crust from the bread and soak in water until soft.
• In a large mixing bowl put the garlic, ground beef and veal, parsley, salt, pepper, and Parmesan. Squeeze the water out of the bread and add it in small pieces. Combine all the ingredients using your hands. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Pat the meatballs into small, flat patties. Dust them in flour.
• Heat both oils in a frying pan. When really hot, fry the meatballs for approximately 2 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove the meatballs and place them in a clean frying pan on a medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the wine and the beef stock. Turn up heat and cook for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Garnish with basil leaves and serve with mashed potatoes.

Steps:

• In a shallow bowl, soak the bread cubes in water to cover for a minute or two.
• Drain the bread cubes and squeeze with your fingers to press out the excess moisture (make sure you do this well).
• In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes, beef, eggs, garlic, pecorino, parsley, toasted pine nuts, salt and pepper, and mix with your hands to incorporate.
• With wet hands, form the mixture into 12-15 meatballs, each smaller than a tennis ball, but larer than a golf ball.
• In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until almost smoking.
• Add the meatballs and, working in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan, cook until deep golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.
• Add the tomato sauce and reduce the heat to a simmer.
• Cook all the meatballs for 30 minutes.
• Set aside and allow to cool; save the sauce for another use.

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine olive oil, basil leaves and garlic over very low heat until mixture is very fragrant and garlic turns golden brown, 10-15 minutes. Strain mixture, discarding basil and garlic; set oil aside., In a Dutch oven, combine crushed tomatoes, water, tomato paste, salt, chopped basil, pepper and reserved olive oil. Bring to a boil; remove ½ cup and set aside. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, while preparing polpette., Meanwhile, to make polpette, in a large bowl, combine all polpette ingredients and reserved 1/2 cup tomato mixture. Gently mix until combined (mixture will be loose). With wet hands, roll 1/4 cup mixture into balls. Place on a baking sheet or plate. Add raw meatballs to simmering sauce, gently shaking pan to allow for more space. Bring to a simmer; cook, covered, at least 45 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, place the bread; cover with milk and leave to soak.
• Chop parsley and garlic together.
• Squeeze milk out of the bread and add to meat along with parsley and garlic in a large mixing bowl.
• Mix ingredients together, then add eggs and mix again.
• Add Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Shape meatballs, make a hole in the top and insert a small piece of mozarella.
• Cover over mozzarella, then roll meatballs in bread crumbs.
• Fry in heated olive oil for 5 minutes, then turn over.
• When golden brown and crusty on both sides, remove from pan and drain on paper towels.
• Add meatballs to your favorite tomato sauce and cook very slowly for 45 minutes on low heat.