Polpettone: Tuscan meatloaf with vegetables, in tomato sauce
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Polpettone (Tuscan meatloaf)
We always hesitate to call this dish “meatloaf” at our cooking school in Italy, because the word doesn’t do it justice. Rest assured: it’s colorful, moist, full of flavor and very comforting.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
For the filling
- 1 boiled carrot, cut lengthwise into 4 pieces
- 1 lightly boiled zucchini, cut lengthwise into 4 pieces
- 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs (optional)
For the polpettone
- 500 g (1 lb) very lean, good-quality ground beef (or, if you don’t mind extra fat, replace a third with good sausage meat)
- 2 medium potatoes, boiled and riced
- 100 g (1 cup) grated Parmesan
- 100 g (½ cup) ricotta
- 2 eggs
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- A small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
- ½ whole nutmeg, freshly grated (or ½ teaspoon of grated nutmeg)
- 3 heaping tablespoons flour
- Salt and pepper
- 100 g (1 cup) breadcrumbs, for coating
- Olive oil
- 1 glass (150 ml / ⅔ cup) dry white wine
- 500–750 ml (2–3 cups) vegetable stock, if needed
For the sauce (optional)
- 1 kg (2¼ lb) ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- With a fork, mix all the polpettone ingredients very well, except the breadcrumbs, oil, wine and stock. Season with salt and pepper.
- Flatten the mixture into a round about the size of a dinner plate.
- Lay the carrot, zucchini and eggs (if using) on top.
- Roll it up into a log, sealing the seams. It should be compact, but don’t press too hard.
- Roll the log in the breadcrumbs to coat.
- Place it seam side down (so it doesn’t open while cooking) in an oiled ovenproof glass dish and prick it with a fork.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until well browned.
- Add the wine, baste well and return to the oven. *
- Meanwhile, make the sauce: cook the tomatoes slowly with a little olive oil and the garlic cloves. Press the garlic back into the sauce with a garlic press if you like, or discard it.
- Pour the sauce around the polpettone and cook for about 10 more minutes.
Notes
You can serve this dish with or without the tomato sauce. Without the sauce, it makes great picnic food, served at room temperature.
* If you make it without the sauce, you may need to add a cup or two of stock once the wine has evaporated, to keep it from drying out. This depends on how much liquid comes out of the ricotta, meat and so on.
Very colorful moist full with vegetable and chesses an nice Sunday meatloaf
This was flavorless. If I’d used italian sausage, it might have been better, but this was a recipe I actually followed the directions on. My regular American meatloaf is so much better, and less expensive!