Che Palle!

I am a specialists for balls, meat balls, fish balls, veggie balls, rice balls. Nothing is more enjoyable to mix and mash good ingredients to create an innovative ball, which you may pan fry or deep fry - that depends.  Obviously I have also my specialties.

The meatballs here are basically made from the highest quality beef you can find at your market.  As this beef is terribly lean, you need to do  something for not producing balls that could be used for playing tennis.  There is a terrible German customs to add soaked bread to the mixture. For balls, bought from a shop my father always asked  "who won the competition: the butcher or the baker?" .  No, I don't like this. I use another animal to soften the beef balls. "Lardo" especially if it is from the "Cinta Senese" pig race.  The lard is finely chopped, I added a little bit of egg, mixed it all with my hands and that would be ready.  But I like always little changes. This time I had some broccoli stems left over, minced them with some Pistacchios and mixed it into the meat. Obviously to fry with Olive Oil in a pan. I added cherry tomatoes for some more juice.

The other ball type was a typical left over processing. The leftover was a "risotto ai funghi porcini".   I added a generous amount of ricotta, a not so generous amount of grated Parmesan,  two big spoons of truffle past, some egg...then I mixed and formed the balls.  For veggie balls and rice balls, I always cover them with bread crumbs, which helps to keep them together.  Pan frying would create a mess, swimming   in oil is necessary for these balls to get crispy and delicious. I don't use frying oil twice, it is a waste, but..

I combined the two balls on a plate with some steamed Zucchini Julienne. Just steamed, no salt, no dressing, not even olive oil. Steaming enhances enormously the original taste of the veggies.  And with the two balls, you did not want anything competing.

Just perfect: the meetballs had the taste of meet softened by the lard and freshed up with the tomatoes.  The rice balls were crunchy outside and very soft inside and the truffle paste did all its duty.

...the wines