Polpette & Mozzarella Bake
Sausages are my favourite flavour shortcut with all that seasoning already done for you. Depending on the sausages you’ve got, you might want to boost things with a few extras: a little dried oregano or thyme, a pinch of smoked paprika, maybe some onion powder, grated garlic, or even a little pecorino. But if your sausages are the good kind, you probably don’t need to lift a finger.
If you fancy using beef instead of pork, mix in some milk-soaked breadcrumbs to soften things up. Beef tends to cook firmer, so a panade (moistened bread) or even a bit of grated carrot helps it stay tender. I like adding a tin of beans to make this dish more of a meal, but it’s just as satisfying without. Double the recipe if you’ve got a crowd, and serve with a green salad and some crusty bread. Leftovers make a cracking lunch the next day — if they last that long.
ingredients
- 1 brown onion, peeled
- 500g pork and fennel sausages
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 400g tin cannellini beans
- 250g mozzarella
- fresh basil leaves
Grate the onion straight into your oven dish — no chopping board required.
Squeeze little nubbins of sausage meat (golf ball size or smaller) from one end of each sausage into the same dish. I usually get about sixteen polpette from 500 g of meat.
Add the tinned beans and tomatoes, give everything a quick stir so it’s all friendly and evenly spread.
Bake covered at 190°C for 20 minutes, then pull it out and scatter over cubed mozzarella. Slide it back in, uncovered, for another 10 minutes until it’s golden and bubbling in all the right places.
Top with fresh basil leaves and take a bow — the applause is well deserved.