veal meatballs with pistachios

polpette di vitello ai pistacchi

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

MAKES: 4 servings

Delicious on their own, these deeply flavored meatballs are wonderful paired with a Piemontese risotto, which is made with beef broth and tomato paste for a rich flavor and dark color. Both recipes can be made in 30 minutes or less.

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Ingredients

1 slice packaged white sandwich bread
1/2 cup whole milk
3 1/2 loosely packed cups freshly grated Grana Padano cheese
1/2 cup roasted unsalted pistachios, finely chopped
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 pounds ground veal
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 sage leaves plus more for garnish
1/4 cup dry white wine

Instructions

In a large bowl, soak bread in milk until softened, about 1 minute. Squeeze out excess milk and return bread to bowl. Add cheese, nuts, egg, salt and generous pinch pepper; mix to combine well. Add veal and mix until evenly combined. Form mixture into 2 1/2-inch balls.

In a large skillet, heat butter and sage over medium-high heat until butter is melted. Add meatballs and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes. Add wine and continue cooking until wine is evaporated, about 1 minute, then reduce heat to low and continue to cook, covered, until meatballs are cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Serve with pan juices, and extra sage leaves for garnish.

December 2011

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Comments [5] | Add your comment

Thanks robbie! I will talk to our test kitchen and will post the weight of cheese we recommend you start with before grating.

Posted: February 17, 2012 15:15 by joannesmart
Have made these twice and both times a big hit. Use only 1 cup of grated cheese, but otherwise followed the recipe. The suggested risotto was perfect with the meatballs.

Posted: February 17, 2012 14:11 by robbie
These are supposed to be pretty cheesy (and delicious!) meatballs. But I am adding the phrase "loosely packed" to the online version of the recipe to describe those cups of grated cheese. Good to know they are also yummy with a fraction of the cheese; seems like folks can use a range depending on what kind of results they want. Thanks for the input!

Posted: February 17, 2012 11:16 by joannesmart
This was a wow meal with the risotto. However - 3 1/2 cups cheese? Used maybe 3 TBL and they were light as a feather.

Posted: February 16, 2012 19:24 by JohnRessler
These meatballs were really good. We made them with the piedmont risotto. It did go very well together. Will make again. Very cheesey...made the meatballs a little heavier than I expected.

Posted: January 21, 2012 20:36 by rpparisi