Italian-Italian meatballs, not Italian-American spaghetti and meatballs. Smaller, tenderer, simmered in tomato, eaten as a course of their own with bread — never piled on pasta.
Polpette al Sugo
Italian-Italian meatballs, not Italian-American spaghetti and meatballs. Smaller, tenderer, simmered in tomato, eaten as a course of their own with bread — never piled on pasta.
Ingredients
Method
- Squeeze the milk-soaked bread to remove excess milk. Crumble it into a bowl with the beef, egg, parmesan, garlic, parsley, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with your hands — don’t overwork or the meatballs go tough.
- Form into walnut-sized meatballs — smaller than Americans expect, about 1.5 inches.
- Make the sauce: heat olive oil in a wide deep skillet over medium. Add garlic; cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, basil, and salt. Simmer 10 minutes.
- Drop the meatballs into the simmering sauce — DON’T sear them first. The traditional Italian way: they cook gently in the sauce, which keeps them tender and flavors the sauce.
- Cover partially and cook 30-40 minutes over low heat, turning the meatballs once or twice. They’ll be soft, almost melting. Splash of water if the sauce gets too thick.
- Serve in shallow bowls with crusty bread — bread, NOT pasta. Italians eat the meatballs as a “secondo” after a pasta course, or alone for a casual meal.
Notes
Don’t brown the meatballs in oil first — Italian-American grandmothers do, but Italian Italian grandmothers don’t. The texture is much more tender when they cook in the sauce. The bread soaked in milk (panada) is the secret to fluffy meatballs.