Polpettone ~ Tuscan Meatloaf
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Polpettone ~ Tuscan Meatloaf
We always hesitate to call this dish “meatloaf ” at our cooking school in Italy because of the possible negative connotations of the word. Rest assured – this dish is colourful, moist, flavoursome and very comforting.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8
Ingredients
For the decoration inside
- 1 boiled carrot, sliced lengthways in 4 pieces
- 1 lightly boiled courgette (zucchini), sliced lengthways in 4 pieces
- 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs (optional)
For the polpettone itself
- 500g (1 lb) very lean, quality ground beef (or if you don’t mind extra fat, replace a third of this with good sausage meat)
- Fifth to half a nutmeg, grated (adjust quantity to taste)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
- 100 g (1/4 lb) Parmesan cheese
- 100 g (1/4 lb) ricotta cheese
- 2 boiled, riced medium potatoes
- 3 heaped tablespoons flour
- 100 g (1 cup) breadcrumbs to coat
- 1 glass white wine
- 2-3 cups vegetable stock (if necessary)
For the sauce (optional)
- 1 kg (2 lb) ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients for the polpettone very well, using a fork. (Not the breadcrumbs, wine or stock).
- Roll/flatten out into a dinner plate size shape.
- Place the vegetables on the rolled mixture.
- Roll up into a “Yuletide log” shape. Try to seal the seams.
- The loaf should be compact but not too compact (do not press to hard).
- Cover with breadcrumbs.
- Roll the meatloaf in the breadcrumbs.
- Place in an oiled glass oven dish with the seam down (so that it doesn’t open up while cooking) and pricked with a fork.
- Cook in the oven for around 30 minutes at 180°C (360°F) until well browned.
- Add the glass of white wine, baste well and return to the oven. *
- Meanwhile, make a tomato sauce by cooking the tomatoes slowly with olive oil and garlic.
- If you like, press the garlic through a garlic press back into the sauce. If not, discard.
- Cook the meatloaf for an additional few (around 10) minutes in the sauce.
Notes
You can serve this dish with or without the tomato sauce, as you wish. 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 to keep it form going dry (once the wine has evaporated). This depends on how much water comes out of your ricotta, meat etc!
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!