Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Pallottine come from Teramo in Abruzzo, and some food writers call this dish the ancestor of American spaghetti and meatballs. The difference is scale: these are so small that some cooks in Teramo make them a quarter of an inch across.
There's no bread in them at all. Just meat, egg and a lot of cheese. Because they're so small, they cook before they can dry out, so they never need a panade.
🇮🇹 The original
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
🇺🇸 The American version
The American descendant grew into big meatballs with a bread and milk paste, served on top of the pasta instead of through it. See the Italian-American Meatballs recipe.
Why it works
No bread
Tiny meatballs cook through in moments, so they never have time to dry out. The cheese does the binding instead.
Chitarra
Spaghetti alla chitarra is cut on a wooden frame strung with wires. Chitarra means guitar.
Watch it made
Step by step
- Step 1
Mix the beef, lamb, egg, cheese, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper. If it won't hold together, add more cheese.
- Step 2
Roll it into very small balls, marble size or smaller. This is the slow part. Put on some music.
- Step 3
Fry them in hot oil in a deep pan until browned, then drain on paper towels. At this size they cook fast.
- Step 4
In another pot, soften the carrot, onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil.
- Step 5
Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and let it simmer.
- Step 6
When the sauce is nearly done, move some of it to a second pan and let the pallottine finish cooking in it.
- Step 7
Boil the pasta until al dente.
- Step 8
Toss it first with the plain sauce, then with the sauce full of pallottine, so every forkful catches a few. Finish with more Parmigiano.
Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Serves 3 · dozens of tiny meatballs · 2 hr total
Meatballs
- 9 oz ground beef
- 3.5 oz ground lamb
- 1 small egg
- 1 1/2 cups (5 oz) finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
Sauce
- 3 lb peeled tomatoes, passed through a food mill (or a good crushed tomato)
- 1 carrot, chopped fine
- 1 onion, chopped fine
- 1 rib celery, chopped fine
- 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Pasta
- 12 oz spaghetti alla chitarra (square spaghetti is the closest swap)
- More grated Parmigiano, to finish
Method
- Mix the beef, lamb, egg, cheese, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper. If it won't hold together, add more cheese.
- Roll it into very small balls, marble size or smaller. This is the slow part. Put on some music.
- Fry them in hot oil in a deep pan until browned, then drain on paper towels. At this size they cook fast.
- In another pot, soften the carrot, onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil.
- Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and let it simmer.
- When the sauce is nearly done, move some of it to a second pan and let the pallottine finish cooking in it.
- Boil the pasta until al dente.
- Toss it first with the plain sauce, then with the sauce full of pallottine, so every forkful catches a few. Finish with more Parmigiano.
Adapted from a Teramo family recipe on Giallozafferano, with Discover Teramo for the pasta. Lo scrigno del buongusto (Giallozafferano). Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- If the mix crumbles, the fix is more cheese, not bread.
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