The backbone of Abruzzo cuisine: Pallotte Cacio e Ova
Pallotte Cacio and Ova are delicious balls, typical of Abruzzo. This is a recipe of the rural ancient tradition, loved by all and still served today in typical local “trattorias”. This is a recipe with poor and local products as cheese and eggs, preferred as antipasto or second course. Eventually the Pallotte and their sauce can be a seasoning for pasta!
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Origin and traditions
The origin of this course, it is said that is from the Second World War. During this period the looting led people to hide the most substantial and important local products like cheese, eggs, and bread, ingredients that women were able to transform into this specialty. After the war, housewives continued to cook this dish, but for other reasons. During the long days in the fields, they needed a quick and tasty meal to keep the farmers fed.
Over the years many were the variants, some people prefer to aromatize this recipe with herbs, someone with lemons, and others with nutmeg. There are recipes in which the balls are prepared much earlier so that the bread has time to absorb the liquids. Some fry them, others prefer to dip them directly in the sauce. The cheese can also make a difference: some people use only pecorino cheese, others mix cow’s cheese, others add simply parmesan. In some recipes, balls are made with breadcrumbs as well as stale bread.
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Do you wanna try to prepare Pallotte Cacio e Ova? Easy and with ingredients that everyone has at home, they will be a guaranteed delight.
The traditional recipe
BALLS
- 150 g stale bread (just breadcrumbs)
- 150 g Pecorino cheese
- 2 eggs
- 10 g parsley
- pepper
- salt
SAUCE
- 300 g tomato sauce
- oil
- salt
- 1 garlic clove
- basil
Let’s start preparing the sauce. Put in a pan the oil, the clove of garlic and let it cook for a pair of minutes on the low flame. Add the tomato sauce and mix, let it cook for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the Pallotte Cacio and Ova’s dough. First, you have to chop the parsley. Cut the breadcrumbs and put them into a mixer and grind the crumbs. Put the grinded crumbs in a bowl and add Pecorino cheese, eggs, parsley, pepper and salt and mix with your hands until a homogeneous mixture is ready. Form the balls by taking a portion of the dough and rolling it in your hands.
Pour in a pot the frying oil and when it’s hot, immerse 2 or 3 balls at a time and let them cook for a couple of minutes. Drain and transfer to a tray with kitchen paper.
Finally, add the balls to the sauce. Cook for another ten minutes or so and turn off the heat. Add some basil leaves, remove the garlic and serve your Pallotte Cacio e Ova. Prepare and enjoy this delicacy with the family!
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Cover photo from Youtube
