polpetta / meatball

The word polpetta comes from polpa, meaning lean meat, with the addition of the diminutive suffix -etta.

Polpette can be made with meat or fish and are fried or stewed. My mother makes them with the boiled meat leftover from making broth. She fries them and the result is brown nuggets that are almost creamy inside and crispy outside. The next day she stews them in tomato sauce: what they lose in outer crispness, they gain in flavor with the aromatic tomato sauce.

I have never eaten spaghetti with meatballs and had never heard of them until I moved to California. Adding meatballs to pasta is a southern tradition and I grew up in central Italy. I have tasted, however, meatballs in the timpano, a pasta dish from Calabria, whose lengthy preparation is shown in the (highly recommended) movie "Big Night" (1996).

[This post is dedicated to Christine.]

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polpetta

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Comments

[Christine]

So glad I was able to inspire! :))

[jann]

No meatballs in your Spaghetti-you should try this sometime!

[Paz]

Oh, wow! What a wonderful dedication. I'm going to look for the movie you've mentioned above. I love good food movies. ;-)

Paz

[Simona Carini]

Thanks Paz. What I like about the movie is that the Italian characters are so true I was moved to tears, especially in the last scene, when one of the brothers makes a frittata.

[Lisa]

My mother also used to make polpette. So good. And -- Big Night! Yes! We watch it somewhat frequently on DVD, because who can get enough? That last scene is unusual in American movies (what, no dialogue??) and wonderful.

[Simona Carini]

You are so right! The silence is kid of the main character of that scene. The gestures are also fascinating: breaking the eggs, beating them with a fork, slicing bread, etc. Thanks for visiting: my husband grew up in Chicago, so I have a connection with Illinois.