Archive for the ‘life in calabria’ Category
What’s Cooking Wednesday: Purpette – Polpette – Meatballs
I have been blogging for over two years and I haven’t posted my grandmother’s meatball recipe? What’s that about?
It could be because we really don’t eat them very often here. As you may or may not have heard, even though it’s probably the most popular menu item in Italian restaurants abroad, Italians in Italy really don’t do the whole “spaghetti and meatballs” thing–and if they do, the meatball is huge and served as a second dish after the pasta. Usually.
I say usually because in my house, I make the meatballs much smaller, like my grandmother taught me, and we (yes, including P) eat them right alongside the pasta–just like I love them. But only if they’re homemade.
When I was in the States, you see, I never, ever ordered meatballs in an Italian restaurant because I knew I wouldn’t like them; fellow diners would get them, I’d try a bite, and nope. Never like my grandmother’s.
If you’ve never made meatballs (polpette in Italian; purpette in Calabrese), trust me–they really *are* worth your time, and they don’t actually take too much effort to make, especially once you’re past the stage of measuring anything, which I’ve been for many years. I used to be the meatball mixer and roller with my grandmother on Saturday nights after church, and some things just stick with you, you know?
I’ll never forget how cold my hands would get while digging into the mixture. My grandmother used to run warm water over them when I’d complain too much, but then I was right back to work.
So below is my grandmother’s recipe for this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday. Measurements are extremely approximate, but they are the ones she gave me way back when, and now they are yours.
Mangia mangia!
Meatballs – Polpette – Purpette
- 1/2 lb ground veal
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 2 teaspoons onion powder or 1 onion very finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 large clove of garlic very finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- olive oil (for frying)
1. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and combine until the mixture sticks together.
2. Roll into golf-ball sized balls.
3. Fry in hot oil, turning with a wooden spoon until all sides are browned.
4. Add to sauce of your choice and let simmer for at least fifteen minutes to be sure the meat inside is cooked.
Buon appetito!
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Read on...why i love il farmacista in italy
Pharmacies in Italy run very differently from those in the United States.
I bring this up now because on Friday I finally broke down and went to la farmacia (farm-uh-CHEE-ah) after feeling not-so-good for a few weeks.
It started with a virus, but then every few days I’d get abdominal pains and was just generally rundown.
Why not go straight to the doctor?
I hate going to the doctor, and I know I’m not alone in that. The biggest part of the annoyance for me is having to wait around with a bunch of sickies who may be sicker than I am and/or with different problems, and possibly catching what they have on top of whatever I have.
But Italy lets me avoid that ever so slightly because here the logical first stop is il farmacista, the pharmacist, who can also diagnose your symptoms and give you medications that require prescriptions–and you only pay for the meds, not the advice.
My pharmacist is here every day but Sunday (he’s even here some Sundays as pharmacies are required by law to rotate so that one is open every Sunday in a given area), so it’s also rather convenient as he’s just a few steps down the Corso.
Once I’m there, I describe my symptoms, and he lets me know if I should go to the doctor or hospital or if he can provide something to help along the healing process.
Best of all, I live in a village of about 350 people. I’ve had to wait in a line (of one person ahead of me) precisely one time in five years.
Read: no shouting your symptoms across the desk in a room full of people. So that’s nice too.
Now, granted, something *very* annoying about the pharmacy system in Italy is that you have to *ask* the pharmacist for just about everything medical you can imagine–think vitamins, regular strength painkillers, cold medicine, yeast infection meds (ladies, I know you hear me on this). I’m spoiled as my mom sends me these things, but that’s more because many of these things are also ridiculously expensive here.
Anyway, I am happy to report that since my pharmacist gave me meds on Friday, I have felt so amazingly better that I have resolved to stop complaining about having no drugstore where I can buy everything over-the-counter, without describing of symptoms or asking anyone for help in the unlocking of cabinets that hold controversial items like tampons, lipstick, and shampoo.*
And that is why I love il farmacista in Italy.
Today anyway.
*For the record, we can buy tampons, lipstick, and shampoo in places other than pharmacies, thank goodness.
Have you dealt with il farmacista?
What say you?
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
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