A good plate of fresh pasta like these troccoli in tomato sauce with meatballs is inviting and always turns out well. It is, moreover, a complete and nourishing dish.
In Apulia there are several ways to cook this typical pasta with vegetables and legumes, but with the sauce and the cacio ricotta cheese that I substituted here with Grana, I believe it’s the best one could desire.
Despite my variation due to not having the original cheese, I am nonetheless satisfied.
If I finally manage to find cacio ricotta, I’ll make them again.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 14 oz Troccoli
- 7 oz Beef (ground)
- Egg (1)
- to taste Grana Padano DOP (grated)
- 2 tbsp Breadcrumbs
- 1 clove Garlic
- Onion (1)
- to taste Extra virgin olive oil
- to taste Salt
- to taste Parsley
- 2 cups Tomato passata
Tools
- Frying pan
- Pot
- Bowl
First, sauté the onion in a little extra virgin olive oil in a pot and add the tomato passata, salt and parsley.
In a bowl beat the egg and add the ground beef, a little grated Grana, the breadcrumbs, the garlic finely chopped, parsley and a pinch of salt.
Mix well and form round meatballs from the resulting mixture.
The sauce needs to cook for at least about thirty minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the troccoli al dente in a large pot of salted water for six to seven minutes from the boil.
Drain and dress with the flavorful sauce and grated Grana. Enjoy the good meatballs as a second course.
The feeling of satiety after eating this complete first course will last for a while :).
Troccoli in tomato sauce with meatballs – traditional Apulian recipe
The original recipe for troccoli in sauce with meatballs therefore calls for the use of cacio ricotta cheese, which is widely used here. Please forgive my substitution with Grana, as it is not always easy to find the original cheese.
Finally, homemade troccoli made with re-milled flour and semolina are certainly preferable to those bought prepackaged in supermarkets.
Note: The troccolo used to make the pasta is a rolling pin of wood or brass with teeth that, pressed on the thin rolled dough, forms the characteristic pasta similar to double spaghetti.
Also come and peek at my Pinterest board THE COOK WHO RECYCLES
