The best Italian food is prepared and enjoyed at home. Understanding this and the profound connection between food and Italian family life, Joan Tropiano Tucci (mother of Stanley Tucci, producer and star of the food-movie hit Big Night) and chef Gianni Scappin (who coached Stanley in food-making for the film) have created Cucina & Famiglia
STAN: On occasion my mother would not feel like cooking a large meal, and then we would have one of our favorite dishes: freshly fried polpette. These were served with salad and lots of crusty Italian bread with butter. This was the only time that butter ever appeared on the table.
JOAN: These meatballs may be eaten as Stan suggests, or they may be lightly sauteed and added to the recipe for ragu meat sauce. They are also an important ingredient in timpano. Dried bread is an essential ingredient in this recipe. I purchase long, thin loaves of unseeded Italian white bread. Set aside leftover bread 2 or 3 days out of wrapper before you plan to prepare these meatballs.
Makes 4 Servings
Ten 1-inch-thick slices Italian bread
1 pound ground beef chuck
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large egg
5 tablespoons finely grated pecorino Romano cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Arrange the bread on a cookie sheet and allow it to dry out, uncovered, about 3 days. Place the dried bread in a bowl and cover with warm water. Set aside until the bread softens, about 5 minutes.
In another bowl, combine the meat, parsley, garlic, egg, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste, using your hands to mix the ingredients. Remove and discard the crust from each slice of bread. Squeeze the water out of the bread, and breaking it into small pieces, add it to the meat. Work tile bread into the meat until they are equally combined and the mixture holds together like a soft dough.
Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan set over medium-high heat. Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture. Roll it between the palms of your hands to form a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. (Meatballs that are being prepared for timpano should be very small. Use a 1/2 teaspoon to scoop out the dough and form it into 1/2-linch balls.) Cook one meatball until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. (A meatball that sticks to the pan is not ready to be turned.) Taste the meatball, and if needed, adjust the seasoning of the remaining mixture by adding more cheese or salt and pepper. Proceed to cook the meatballs in small batches. As each batch is completed, remove it to a warmed serving plate. Serve when all the meatballs are cooked.
VARIATION: Meatballs that will be added to ragu sauce should be slightly, undercooked (about 6 minutes), as they will finish cooking in the sauce. Add the meatballs to the ragu during the last half hour of cooking. Some of the pan juices from cooking the meatballs may be used to flavor the ragu sauce. Discard half of the oil and cooking juices left in the pan. Pour the remaining half of the pan juices into the ragu sauce. Add 2 tablespoons water to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon to remove any meat that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Pour this into the ragu sauce as well.
