Meatballs in White Cheese Sauce
Polpette in bianca
In Italian restaurants white cheese sauces are all the rage this year. This recipe for meatballs in white cheese sauce was inspired by a visit to a gourmet pizzeria in Taranto.
I have lost count of the number of times, I’ve had meat of pasta in white cheese sauce at restaurants in Italy this year. The colourless sauces are extremely popular from north to south, and they are almost always made of hard cheese cooked in milk. This gives them lighter texture than the traditional creamy cheese sauce favoured by Americans, but you can always add some mozzarella, if you miss the extra calories.
This elegantly pale recipe for meatballs in white cheese sauce was inspired by a visit to Il Braciere in Taranto, where they – apart from quality pizzas – serve a wide range of antipasti. Their freshly-made, burning hot, homemade potato crisps are a must try.
Ingredients
For the meatballs
250 g minced pork
100 g grated parmesan
100 g dry bread
50 ml milk
1 egg
1 tbsp flour
Salt, pepper, grated nutmeg
Laurel leaf
100 ml white wine
Sage
For the sauce
100 ml milk
100 g parmesan
Preparation
Dice bread and soak it in milk.
Rub the bread through your fingers and mix with egg, grated parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Add minced pork to the mixture and flour to make a homogenous mixture.
Bring 200 ml water to the boil, add white wine, salt and a laurel leaf.
Dip a spoon in the boiling water, take a spoonful of the meat mixture and form it into a ball.
Place the ball in boiling wine / water, repeat the process and let the meatballs cook for 10 minutes.
For the sauce melt grated parmesan in milk over low heat to prevent the cheese from coagulating.
Add more these to obtain the creaminess you prefer.
Adjust the quantities and you can serve meatballs with white cheese sauce as antipasto, with pasta or as a main meat course.
An elegantly pale dish of meatballs in white cheese sauce
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