Pasta with Meatballs Cooking Recipe – Pasta Con Le Polpettine Recipe
This recipe is very common throughout Italy. It originates in Puglia, in the far southeast (the “heel” of Italy’s boot), where it is an everyday dish.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Pasta cooking time: follow packet instructions
Ingredients
- 7 oz. (200 g) ground beef
- 3 ½ oz. (100 g) sausage meat
- 1 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- A few sprigs of parsley
- A few fresh basil leaves
- 14 oz. (400 g) tomatoes
- 1 slice of white bread
- 3 tablespoons (1 oz./30 g) grated Parmesan
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup (250 ml) white wine
- 2 cups (500 ml) vegetable stock
- 14-16 oz. (400-500 g) ziti (large macaroni)
- 2 tablespoons (⅔ oz./20 g) grated pecorino
- Salt, pepper
Cooking Method
- Peel the onion, and then chop.
- Peel the garlic and chop.
- Wash the parsley and basil, remove their stalks, and chop.
- Peel the tomatoes (after immersing for a few seconds in boiling water and then in cold water, or with a serrated vegetable peeler).
- Crumble the bread. In a bowl, mix the meat with the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and the egg.
- Add the parsley, basil, and garlic; season with salt and pepper.
- Next shape the meatballs into the size of a hazelnut, and brown them in the olive oil in a skillet with the onion.
- Sprinkle with flour, and deglaze with the wine.
- Add the peeled tomatoes and cook for 40 minutes, moistening the sauce with a little vegetable stock if it becomes dry, and checking the seasoning.
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water, drain.
- Gently mix the sauce with the pasta and sprinkle with grated pecorino.
Suggested food/wine match
- Rosa del Golfo, Portulano—Salento IGT
Chef’s notes
You can replace the ziti with malfade (ribbon pasta with a serrated edge), with shell-shaped orecchiette, or long spiral-shaped fusilli.
You can also use different meats for the meatballs, either singly or mixed: veal, beef, pork, lamb, turkey, chicken, etc.
You can make a gratin with any leftovers of this dish by adding grated cheese: caciocavallo, a stretched curd cow milk cheese; pear-shaped scamorza made from raw cow milk; pecorino from fresh, whole ewe’s milk, or Parmesan, etc.
