Polpette & Mozzarella Bake
I love using sausages as a sure fire flavour shortcut. Depending on how well seasoned the sausages are, you may need to add extra flavour enhancers such as dried oregano or thyme, smoked paprika, onion powder, grated fresh garlic or even pecorino. Ideally, your sausages are that good you don’t need to add anything.
If you want to swap in beef for the pork meat, add some milk-soaked breadcrumbs to the meat to soften its finished texture. Beef cooks up firmer than pork so I find a panade (soaked breadcrumb mix) or a little grated carrot perfect to achieve a tender texture.
I add tinned beans to make the dish heartier but honestly it’s just as good without. Double the recipe if serving a large group and add a green salad and crusty bread on the side. Any leftovers will make a welcome lunch for the next couple of days.
ingredients
- 1 brown onion, peeled
- 500g pork and fennel sausages
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 400g tin cannellini beans
- 250g mozzarella
- fresh basil leaves
method
Grate the peeled onion straight into your oven dish.
Push out nubbins of sausage meat (golf ball size or smaller) from one end of each sausage into the same dish. I got 16 polpette out of 500g of meat. Add tinned beans and tomatoes and stir so they’re evenly distributed.
Bake covered for 20 minutes at 190 degrees then remove from the oven and add cubed mozzarella. Pop it back in the oven uncovered for 10 minutes until it’s temptingly melty. Top with fresh basil and serve to rapturous applause.
