Polpette all’uccelletto - Sausage meatballs cooked in stewed beans
Course Main Course
Cuisine Tuscan
Keyword beans, meatballs, sausages
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 50 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour10 minutesminutes
Servings 4people
Ingredients
For meatballs
200g(7 oz) of ground beef
100g(3,5 oz) of fresh pork sausages, without the case
1medium potato, boiled
2tablespoonsof grated pecorino romano
1cloveof garlic
Some sage leaves
½teaspoonof fennel seeds
Salt
Black pepper
All purpose flour
For the stewed beans
Some sage leaves
2clovesof garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
600g(1 lb 5 oz or 3 ½ cups) of cannellini beans, already cooked
300ml(1 ⅓ of a cup) of bean cooking water
1tablespoonof tomato paste
Instructions
Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)
Start by preparing the meatballs. Put the ground beef in a bowl and add the riced boiled potato, the crumbled sausages, the grated pecorino cheese and the finely chopped garlic clove with sage leaves. Pound the fennel seeds in a mortar, reducing them into powder, then sprinkle them into the bowl.
Now roll up your sleeves and mix all the ingredients with your hands. When you think they are ready, continue for another minute. Season with salt and pepper, but do not exaggerate as you have already used savoury ingredients, such as the pecorino and the fresh sausage.
Shape the meatballs with your hands, as big as a walnut, and roll them into the flour.
Place the meatballs in a baking pan lined with parchment paper, then drizzle with olive oil. Gently shake the pan so that the meatballs, rolling in the pan, will be evenly coated with olive oil.
Arrange the meatballs again into the pan, keeping them slightly spaced, and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden. Remove the meatballs from the oven and set aside.
Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large, deep pan with two cloves of garlic - leave the skin on and crush them with the palm of your hand - and some sage leaves. When the garlic has infused the olive oil and the sage leaves begin to get crisp, pour the beans with a few ladlefuls of their cooking water, add the tomato paste, stir and cook over low flame. Season with salt and pepper.
Let the beans simmer over a gentle heat for about twenty minutes, then add the meatballs and cook for further ten minutes.
Serve the meatballs hot, accompanied by the stewed beans, with some toasted Tuscan bread.
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