RICHMOND, Va - Wes Holland, of Any Occasion Catering, walked us through the steps to create his unique and tasty ‘Polpetta’ meatballs, which will be a featured dish at the Greater Richmond ARC’s annual Ladybug Wine Tasting and Silent Auction. These sweet and savory ground beef and pork meatballs are completed with raisins, pine nuts, and a white wine tomato sauce. Proceeds from the Ladybug Event will provide therapy scholarships and hearing aids and eyeglasses for children with developmental disabilities. The event is Saturday, April 11th from 6pm to 9:30pm at the Torque Club at Richmond International Raceway. For more information visit www.richmondarc.org.
Polpetta with golden raisin and pine nut, hot oil seared sweet bell pepper mélange, roasted cloves of garlic and Kalamata Olive small plate.
Recipe for Polpetta ( poi-PET-Tah)
12oz. lean ground beef
8oz. ground pork
1ea. med. size shallot, finely chopped
2 oz. dry bread crumbs
1/4c. water ( additional as needed to fully moisten the bread crumbs and soften)
6tbl. pine nuts, crushed with back of knife
3 cloves ea. peeled garlic crushed and minced with pinch of kosher salt
2/3c. golden raisins plumped in 1/2c.whiteplus 2tbl. EVOO, warmed and poured over the raisins, rest 5 minutes, then drain off extra liquid, keep for later use, rough chop with chef knife.
1/3c. minced Italian parsley.
1ea. large egg.
Salt and Pepper to taste.
1/2 ea. red, yellow and orange bell pepper, cut into 9 square pieces, cooked in hot EVOO, very quickly to give some “caramelized” color, drain on paper towels, keep warm.
12 ea. whole cloves of garlic oven roasted in EVOO until light tan color and soft, remove from oil with slotted spoon, keep warm.
30 Pitted Kalamata Olives, drained from Brine liquid.
1 recipe quick tomato sauce, recipe follows.
After prepping combine all ingredients from top of list to bottom and mix to combine well and chilling for 30 minutes, before proceeding to make into ¾ to 1oz. balls, using a spring handle round portion / ball, will yield 20-26 ea.
Combine some olive oil and unsalted butter in pan over med. heat, brown several small meatballs at a time, cooking batches and adding more oil and butter as needed to “fry”, After all are browned and reserved keeping warm, “deglaze” pan with “extra liquid” and 1/3c. white wine, simmer to reduce by ¼ , then add tomato sauce, Polpetta heat to simmer, reduce heat and cook several minutes with loose fitting lid, til meat balls are cooked through. We enjoy with large diced mélange of sweet bell peppers, pitted Kalamata olives, roasted cloves of garlic added to sauce a la minute to warm through with Focaccia Bread Crisp.
Quick tomato Sauce
2tbl.EVOO
2ea. cloves peeled garlic, minced with pinch kosher salt.
1ea. small shallot, peeled and minced.
1ea. 15 oz can tomato sauce.
1ea. 15 oz. diced tomatoes in juice, hand crushed.
1/2c. white wine.
Pinch of sugar, salt and pepper.
Warm EVOO over med heat, add garlic and shallot , cook ½ minute, “deglaze” with wine, boil and reduce heat. Add both tomato ingredients, pinch sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cook and reduce by ¼ , reserve warm for Polpetta.
