Sunday Dining: Meat Bullets

Sundays unfairly get a bad rap by most of the working population. Transform your Sunday into a day to look forward to by including at least one of the following features: a platter, champagne, feature meal, nap, swim, crossword, gardening, a movie (in no strict order) (on a sliding scale upwards towards bliss the more features involved).

Last Sunday at our parent’s house ticked quite a few of these boxes – a late lunch of a plate of tranquilizing meat bullets, which sent us to siesta before we tackled the crossword (getting stuck on 26-across ‘Permanently attached to a base’ with the letters S_S_I_E) & a cuppa, had a refreshing dip, moved onto platters & champagne, then wrapped up with a dessert we thought was highly unnecessary whilst making it earlier in the day, but highly necessary whilst consuming it later in the day.

Round #1

Polpettone wrapped in pancetta (or ‘Meat Bullets’)

Panzanella (tomato & bread salad)

Foccacia

Polpettone
(adapted from Gourmet Traveller Annual Cookbook 2009, p. 146)
Serves 6-8


100ml olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp each finely chopped marjoram & oregano leaves

1 tsp finely chopped sage leaves

1kg minced veal

2 eggs, lightly beaten

35g (1/2 cup) fine breadcrumbs from a crusty white loaf

40g (1/2 cup) finely grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

16 (300g) wide, thin, flat pancetta slices

2 fresh bay leaves

750ml (3 cups) passata

250ml red wine

100g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan over low-medium heat, add half the onion and half the garlic and sauté until soft and translucent (8-10 minutes), stir through herbs, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Combine meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, onion mixture and 2 tsp each sea salt and freshly ground black pepper in a bowl. Divide into 40 pieces, roll into logs, wrap each with overlapping pancetta slices, refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a large flameproof casserole, add polpettone and turn occasionally until brown (5 minutes), then remove from casserole and set aside. Add remaining onion and garlic to casserole and sauté over low-medium heat until soft (7-8 minutes), stir in bay leaves, passata and red wine. Add polpettone, cover and simmer until firm when pressed (10 minutes), remove lid and simmer until sauce is reduced by half (8-10 minutes).

Transfer polpettone to a plate with a slotted spoon, cover loosely with foil and keep warm. Increase heat to high and cook sauce until thick (5-10 minutes), then stir in butter until combined.

Spoon tomato sauce over polpettone, scatter with parmesan and serve immediately.

Panzanella (Italian Tomato & bread salad)

(adapted from Vogue Entertaining & Travel, Food from our travels, p. 12)

2 large cloves garlic, halved

1 long red chilli, seeded, chopped

60ml (1/4 cup) red wine vinegar

100ml extra virgin olive oil

4 large vine-ripened tomatoes (we used heirloom varieties from local farmer)

125g cherry tomatoes, halved

1 red capsicum, seeded

2 Lebanese cucumbers

½ red onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed

4 x 1.5cm-thick slices day-old ciabatta, lightly toasted, torn into pieces

1 loosely-packed cup basil leaves

Using a pestle and mortar, pound garlic with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt to a paste, then add chilli and pound to a coarse paste. Place mixture in a large bowl, then whisk in vinegar, a pinch of sugar and oil until combined.

Cut the vine-ripened tomatoes, capsicum and cucumbers into bite-sized pieces and add to dressing with cherry tomatoes, onion, capers and bread. Season with freshly ground black pepper and toss well to combine.

Stand salad at room temperature for 20 minutes, tossing occasionally, and serve scattered with torn basil leaves.

Round #2
 Platter of various local/import cheeses (Maleny Dairy Vintage Cheddar, Jindi Deluxe Blue, Jarlsberg), leftover foccacia toasted, smoked salmon (Tasmanian Tassal brand – the best!!)

Round #3


Poached peach & cherry frangipane tart 

We had a bit of an initial fail with this tart – only having half the required amount of flour, we attempted to substitute semolina. This did not work – it was too grainy and didn’t cohere (perhaps not enough gluten?). It may have the potential to work, with more flour/less semolina/a lower butter proportion/maybe an egg to bind it… but not knowing enough of the science required we ducked to the local to get some ready-made shortcrust pastry.

For the frangipane filling: we blended together 200g butter, 200g almond meal, 200g caster sugar, 20ml Cointreau

For the poached fruit: we followed this recipe, but only poached the apricot halves for about 7-10 minutes and the cherries for 1 minute, then peeled them.

To bake: blind bake the tart base at 200*c for about 10 minutes then allow to cool. Spread over almond mixture, then press in fruit. Bake at 200*c for about 20 minutes, until almond mixture is golden and pastry is well cooked.

We served this with natural yoghurt that had been in the freezer for about 30 minutes, for an extra bit of tang to cut through the richness. Delish !