Polpettone: The Big Meatball

With the Christmas and New Years holidays just days away, everyone I know is planning at least one family dinner to celebrate. One of my favorite holiday recipes is the polpettone, literally translated as "the big meatball".

Truly a dish for any time of year, the polpettone is so much more than a meatball. In a nutshell, it is an Italian meatball mix that is flattened out, stuffed with prosciutto, cheese, and boiled egg and then cooked slowly in a tomato sauce. While it may sounds complicated, it's actually quite easy. Here is a step by step guide to making this yummy Italian dish.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make an Italian Polpettone:

1 lb. ground meat

3 slices of milk-softened stale Italian bread, torn into small bits

2 eggs, raw

5 slices of prosciutto di parma

2 hard boiled eggs

1/2 cup provolone cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt, pepper, fresh parsley to taste

1. Prepare a large pan of simple Italian tomato sauce. Use imported Italian tomatoes or better yet, fresh garden tomatoes if you have them. Let it simmer while you prepare the polpettone.

Rienzi, Pastene, and Pomi are a few brands of imported Italian tomatoes

2. Start with a bowl of lean ground meat (about 1 lb of meat will make one polpettone)

3. One by one, add the parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, and a little chopped parsley

If imported parmigiano cheese is unavailable, use domestic parmesan cheese from your supermarket deli

4. Use your hands to blend the ingredients together until you have a homogeneous mix.

5. Spread out a sheet of aluminum foil on your work area. Pour a few drops of water on it, and use your hands to flatten it out and distribute the water.

6. Place the meat mixture on the sheet and use your hands to flatten it out into an oval shape.

7. Cover the meat with a layer of prosciutto slices, chunks of softened bread and the chopped boiled eggs. Then add slices of provolone cheese on top of that.

8. Gently fold over one corner, being careful to keep the meat mixture intact.

9. Use the aluminum foil to slowly guide the meat mixture in a rolling motion

10. Your roll should look like this. Use your hands to close up any tears that may have opened. Use a knife to poke a few holes in the top of the loaf.

 11. Slowly lift the loaf with the aluminum foil, and carefully guide it into the pan of tomato sauce. Let it simmer, shifting gently with a wooden spoon from time to time for about one hour.

12. Use two spatulas to lift the polpettone out of the pan and place it on a flat dish. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes. Cut the polpettone into 1 inch thick slices and serve with a bit of the tomato sauce and some good Italian bread.

 Buon Appetito!

If you enjoyed reading this, have a look at some of our other food related posts here at Eat as the Romans do.

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