Polpette di Melanzane

I had some old eggplants in the fridge, and since am finishing all the stuff in there before heading to our summer vacation,I decided to do something with them.I asked Elin if she's in the mood for having polpette for dinner, and she said yes. So I jumped on the occasion and decided to prepare Italian eggplant balls or polpette di melanzane.I made some tomato sauce with basil to accompany these polpette,the result? Heaven!


Polpette di Melanzane

Polpette(eggplant balls)

2 medium eggplants
1 egg
50 gr grated parmesan cheese
4-5 chopped basil leaves
2 Tbs chopped parsley
4 Tbs bread crumbs (grated)
2-3 slices of old bread
50 gr grated pecorino romano cheese
4 slices galbanino cheese cut into dices (optional)
Salt
pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
grated bread crumbs for coating polpette.

For the tomato sauce

3 medium tomatoes
1 Tbs toamto paste
1/2 onion cut into dices
basil
salt

Method:

Polpette

wash eggplants and pat dry then cut into small pieces, bring to boil for few minutes in a pot with water and salt.
In the meantime, cut slices of old bread and soak in some water to soften them.
When eggplants are soft, put in colander and let cool a bit.
In a separate bowl put the bread, eggplants,parmesan cheese, pecorino cheese, galbanino cheese , egg, parsley, basil salt and pepper. Add nutmeg and bread crumbs and mix , you might want to add more bread crumbs (grated bread crumbs) in order to have a more solid mixture.Put mixture in the fridge to firm for about an hour.After you've taken mixture out of the fridge,start to form medium balls and cover them with bread crumbs.
In a deep frying pan, put vegitable oil that is enough to cover the eggplant balls.When hot, start to fry the eggplant balls until light brown in color.Put on absorbing paper after frying them to absorb excess oil.


Sauce:
Sautè chopped onions with 2 Tbs olive oil, then add diced tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and 1/4 cup of water and continue to cook.This time over a low flame.Add salt and towards the end add some basil leaves and mix gentely with tomatoes ,just until falvoures are combined.

Serve eggplant balls with some of the tomato sauce.

Notes:

*You can make a meaty version of these eggplant balls, by omitting the pecorino and the galbanino cheese and adding 1-1 1/2 cups minced meat.

*Instead of Galbanino cheese , you can use Scamorza cheese which is smoked Mozzarella.

Risotto with zucchini and shrimps

One of the things I love about my husband is his ability to create great dishes from nothing. He likes to cook and experiment with new things (but it is limited to pastas and risotti)This one I love the most it is a great Risotto made with Zucchini and shrimps, even my little two years old picky eater likes this dish.
One important thing to bear in mind while cooking a risotto is that you have to stay close to the pot and add stock to the rise as you mix it constantly, otherwise it would stick to the pot and result in a sticky risotto (God's forbid ! according to my husband :-))

Zucchini and Shrimps Risotto

1 medium zucchini

1/4 of a medium onion

1 cup rise (for risotto)

1 cube chicken stock

2 cups water

1 pack frozen shrimps (no head, no tail)

2 Tablespoons butter

Start by cutting the onions and the zucchini into small cubes. Melt the butter in a heavy pot then add onions. Sautè the onions a bit then add the zucchini and sautè.Add the the Shrimps and Rise and mix(keep mixing to avoid sticking) in a separate pot, put water and let boil then add the cube of chicken stock ( you can use fresh chicken stock, I used the cube) then add stock to cover a bit above rise mixter.Season with salt and keep mixing. When you see that rise is starting to get dry, add stock and mix until rise is cooked.

Enjoy!