Meatballs (Polpette)

What can I say about meatballs? One thing is for sure, you'll never make enough of them whatever the quantity you decide to prepare, and everybody will ask you for more and more! Most of us just love meatballs, but only if they are made with very lean meat and strictly fresh and genuine products.

The preparation of meatballs is a little more elaborated than the dishes I have proposed to you over the past weeks, but believe me, it's worth the effort. You can cook them a day you have some free time, and then keep them in the refrigerator for a few days, because they hold well.

Ingredients

• 35 oz (~ 1 l) canned tomato puree;
• 1 lb (~ 500 g) lean ground beef;
• 5 eggs;
• 10 oz (~ 300 grams) breadcrumbs;
• 5 oz (~150 g) grated Parmesan cheese;
• Vegetable oil;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• A handful of parsley leaves;
• Salt;
• Pepper;
• Crushed Italian hot red pepper.

Directions

Pour the tomato puree in a pot, and add a pinch of salt and the extra virgin olive oil. Cook for about ten minutes stirring once in a while and turn off the heat. 

Meanwhile dice the garlic finely and cut the parsley and put aside. 

Beat the eggs very well and add a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, a pinch of crushed Italian red pepper, the garlic, the parsley and the grated Parmesan cheese, and beat again. 

Then add the lean ground beef and knead with your hands until the ingredients are well combined. At this point pour in the breadcrumbs like rain and continue kneading until all the ingredients are well combined again. 

Pick some mixture portions, one at a time, and shape them as if you were making snowballs, the size can be like a ping-pong ball or smaller. 

Fry the meatballs lightly in a pan in the vegetable oil, stir them regularly, and remove them from the heat when the crust is golden. Let them dry on a paper towel. 

Turn on the fire under the tomato sauce and add the meatballs. Allow them cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes stirring once in a while. 

Remove the meatballs from the tomato sauce. You can season pasta with the sauce, and put the meatballs above it. But you can also serve the meatballs alone with the sauce, with french fries, potato puree, or with salad. 

Let me know!