Better Than Meatballs: The Secret to a Perfectly Tender, Stuffed Italian Polpettone
With this recipe, you won’t have to worry about not enough food for your family dinner.
Even though meatballs aren’t that difficult to make, sometimes even the thought of the long shaping process makes you want to get a delivery and that’s it.
However, things will surely be different with the authentic Italian polpettone which is basically a giant meatball that will be enough for a big family. The cooking process itself might be a bit complicated, but you likely won’t regret spending your time on it.
Here’s what you need: 500 g of turkey, 200 g of raw homemade sausages, 200 g of cooked sausage, 1 egg, 75 g of stale white bread, 125 ml of milk, 50 g of Parmesan cheese, salt, ground black pepper, and nutmeg.
For the filling, we’ll use 100 g of sliced smoked ham (you can actually use any type of sliced meat), 100 g of hard cheese, and 150 g of bacon.
Cut the bread into pieces and soak them in milk. Cut the cooked sausage into small cubes. Grate the Parmesan on a fine grater.
In a bowl, combine the ground turkey with the deboned homemade sausages. If for some reason you can’t get sausages, you can substitute them with ground pork. Add the sausage, squeezed-out bread, egg, and Parmesan, then season with salt and pepper. Add a little nutmeg and mix until smooth.
Next, spread the meat mixture onto a sheet of parchment paper and shape it into a rectangle. Press it down firmly with your hands. Now arrange the sliced meat on top; you can use smoked ham or something else.
Grate the cheese and sprinkle it over the chopped meat, leaving a border around the edges, it’s important that the filling doesn’t leak out of the roll. Roll it up tightly, using the parchment paper as an aid; the result should be a large meatloaf. Seal the edges well; the cheese shouldn’t leak out.
Cover the surface of the roll with bacon on all sides. Wrap the roll in parchment paper and twist the ends, like you would with a candy bar. Bake for 50 minutes at 200°C.
After time has passed, remove the roll from the oven, unwrap it, and place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. When it’s ready, slice it into pieces about a centimeter thick. Don’t forget to drizzle the sauce that formed during baking over the side dish.
