Preparation

• Grandma used to make homemade egg pasta in tagliolini or quadrucci format.

  You can prepare homemade fresh pasta or choose a pasta for soups.
  For the detailed step-by-step procedure you can read the complete recipe by clicking on the following link: Homemade whole wheat pasta without eggs.

• In a bowl, combine:
  – the ground meat;
  – the breadcrumbs or whole wheat breadcrumbs, a 15 g measuring spoon or 1 heaping tablespoon;
  – the grated cheese, a 15 g measuring spoon or 1 heaping tablespoon;
  – garlic powder [optional];
  – a pinch of salt;
  – a pinch of pepper;
  – chopped parsley if you like;
  and mix the ingredients well until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.

  

• With your hands, form balls, compact them by rolling them between your palms and place them on a plate or a tray.
  To get equal meatballs, you can use a 2.5 g measuring spoon.

  If not in a hurry, refrigerate for at least half an hour to firm up.

• Clean and thoroughly wash the vegetables:
  – onion or shallot;
  – a celery stalk with leaves;
  – parsley stalks.

  You can add the vegetables whole, grated, or blended according to taste and need.

  In a casserole, pour 2 cups of water or more and add:
  – onion or shallot;
  – celery;
  – parsley stalks;
  – a vegetable broth cube [optional];
  and a pinch of salt.

  Cover with a lid preferably glass, bring to a boil, and cook on medium burner at low flame for 10 minutes.

  Alternatively, you can prepare the broth by simply dissolving a vegetable broth cube in boiling salted water.

• Bring the vegetable broth back to a boil.

  Gently pour the meatballs into the vegetable broth, they need to cook for about 10 minutes.
  Being a ground meat preparation, the meatballs must always be well cooked and not rare to avoid the risk of foodborne diseases from pathogenic microorganisms.

  In another pot, cook the pasta and drain it.
  In case of brothy first courses, to avoid glycemic spikes, it is advisable to cook the pasta separately, rinse it and then add it to the prepared broth sauce; this way, the starch released by the pasta in the cooking water is eliminated.

  Pour the pasta into the casserole with the broth and meatballs and stir gently.

  Serve.
  Grind some pepper and drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.
  If you like, top with a sprinkle of grated Ragusano caciocavallo.

  Your pasta in broth with meatballs or paddunedda is ready.

  Enjoy your meal!

  

• At my great-grandmother’s and grandmother’s house, pasta che paddunedda was the dish for Sundays and holidays.
  My cousin and I eagerly awaited this moment: grandma would give us a bit of her dough to “play” at making pasta and entrusted us with the most exciting task: forming the paddunedda!

  From Modica to Ragusa
  Another family tradition was the stuffed chicken in broth – a iaddina co cinu – a typical dish for lunch on August 29th for the feast of Saint John the Baptist.