An iconic dish from the Abruzzo region in the cucina povera tradition, pallotte cacio e uova—cheese and egg balls—probably got its start as a way to use up leftover bits of cheese and stale bread. The mixture is then bound together with egg and formed into balls and, just like meatballs, fried and simmered in tomato sauce. As they simmer, the pallotte swell and absorb the flavor of the sauce. You’ll be surprised how much they actually taste like ‘real’ meatballs. Its a perfect example of how the poor in Italy would take simple, humble ingredients that other might discard and then them into something incredibly tasty.
Originally served as a vegetarian second course to replace costly meat, in these more prosperous times this dish is just as likely to show up as an antipasto.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6 as an antipasto or vegetarian secondo
For the balls:
- 400g (14 oz) of mixed grated cheeses (see Notes)
- 4 eggs
- 100g (4 oz) of best-quality white bread, crusts removed and soaked in water and squeezed dried
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- A few sprigs of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Tomato sauce (optionally, with sliced or diced red bell pepper addedto the soffritto)
Directions
Mix all of the ingredients indicated above together in a large mixing bowl. Let the mixture rest for a good hour in the fridge to allow the flavors to get acquainted and the mixture to firm up.
While the mixture is resting, make your tomato sauce, using any of the Southern Italian-style sauces indicated in our post “Tomato Sauce 101“, made with a soffritto of garlic or garlic and onion, like Sauces #2 or #3. Many recipes call for adding chopped or thinly sliced red bell pepper, a typically Abruzzese addition. (Personally, I’m not very fond of tomato and bell pepper together.)
Take the bowl out of the fridge and form them into ‘meatballs’.
Deep fry the cheese and egg balls, or shallow fry them in olive oil, until they are nice and golden brown all over. Make sure the balls are well spaced, as they tend to stick together, especially when they first start cooking, as they cheese starts to melt and before the egg binding takes hold.
Transfer the fried balls to the tomato sauce and let them simmer there for a good 15-20 minutes. The balls will swell a bit as they cook and take on an almost spongy texture.
Serve immediately.
Notes
Recipes for pallotte cacio e uova typically call for a mixture of sharp, aged and milder, semi-aged cheeses, and cow’s and sheep’s milk cheeses. The local pecorino abruzzese, of the relatively mild semi-aged variety, is de rigueur. A typical mixture might include 200g of pecorino abruzzese, 100g of Parmesan or grana, and 100g of a sharper fully aged pecorino, like pecorino romano. If you can’t find pecorino abruzzese, which is awfully hard to find outside Italy, the much easier to find pecorino toscano can substitute nicely. I wouldn’t sweat the cheeese too much—remember, this is a poor man’s dish, invented as a way of using up scraps of cheese, so you can do the same. Hey, I even read one online recipe by an ex pat abruzzese living in the UK who likes to add Cheddar to her pallotte cacio e uova.
Like meatballs, these cheese and egg balls are also very nice eaten by themselves, fried but without simmering in tomato sauce. Eaten that way, they become ‘finger food’ suitable for serving with cocktails. Just make sure to make them a bit smaller and fry them rather darker than you would otherwise, so they are firmer and fully cooked through.
Pallotte cacio e uova (Cheese and Egg Balls)
Ingredients
For the balls:
- 400 g 14 oz of mixed grated cheeses (see Notes)
- 4 eggs
- 100 g 4 oz of best-quality white bread, crusts removed and soaked in water and squeezed dried
- 1-2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
- A few sprigs of fresh parsley finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
For the sauce:
- One batch home-made tomato sauce optionally, with sliced or diced red bell pepper added to the soffritto
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients indicated above together in a large mixing bowl. Let the mixture rest for a good hour in the fridge to allow the flavors to get acquainted and the mixture to firm up.
- While the mixture is resting, make your tomato sauce, using any of the Southern Italian-style sauces indicated in our post "Tomato Sauce 101", made with a soffritto of garlic or garlic and onion, like Sauces #2 or #3. Many recipes call for adding chopped or thinly sliced red bell pepper, a typically Abruzzese addition. (Personally, I'm not very fond of tomato and bell pepper together.)
- Take the bowl out of the fridge and form them into 'meatballs'.
- Deep fry the cheese and egg balls, or shallow fry them in olive oil, until they are nice and golden brown all over. Make sure the balls are well spaced, as they tend to stick together, especially when they first start cooking, as they cheese starts to melt and before the egg binding takes hold.
- Transfer the fried balls to the tomato sauce and let them simmer there for a good 15-20 minutes. The balls will swell a bit as they cook and take on an almost spongy texture.
- Serve immediately.
51 Comments on “Pallotte cacio e uova (Cheese and Egg Balls)”
I have made these for the first time today, they were delicious. Is it possible to make them in batches and freeze them?
If so, would I fry them first?
To be honest, I haven’t tried so I’m only guessing, but I should think it would work to freeze them. Worth a try anyway.
I plan to try your method this weekend but I wonder if including some mozzarella would completely change the texture once the balls are fried? I have Pecorino, Parmigiana and mozzarella so I’ll give it a whirl. I’ve only recently discovered your website and I absolutely LOVE all your recipes!
Hmm… the cheeses that go in are usually hard or semi-hard, while mozzarella is, of course, a fresh cheese. That said, if the mozzarella you have is the dry kind (that comes wrapped in plastic not immersed in its own whey) then it might work. As you say, why not give it a shot?
PS: Thanks so much for the kind words about the blog!
Wow! These were incredible! I didn’t fry them, I just poached them in the tomato sauce. I came upon your recipe at the exact right time. I had a chunk of delicious homemade bread that was a bit dry and a big collection of ends and pieces of cheese. I made them with all of the bits and pieces of cheese that were on hand and the combination was phenomenal. Leftover palotte were even more delicious than the first day. Who needs meatballs when you’ve got “cucina povera” that tastes this good! Thank you for yet another delicious recipe. I love your blog.
So glad to hear it, Christine! This recipe is a great way to use up those odd bits of cheese. And thanks so much for the kind words about the blog… 🙂
You don’t need to fry them at all. Just drop them into the sauce and they come out super soft and absorb the sauce completely. That’s how my mom made them in Molfetta.
I can’t wait to make this
I love contorni from the respective regions
Do you know of any potato or vegetable contorni from this specific area? I wanna pair it with my abruzzo lamb and egg dish
Thanks
Alas, I’m a bit short on Abruzzese dishes on the blog… and so I have no specifically abruzzese ones to propse. But what about a basic cicoria in padella? You can access all my contorni by clicking Browse/By Course/Contorni in the bar above. They’re also listed in the index, alphabetically.
my mother when coating anything to be fried would use the leftover eggs and crumbs and make patties and fry along with the dish, as her mother did in Lipari, Sicily…..no waste, love your site.
And I love your philosophy! Thanks for your kind comment, Mary. 🙂
Has anyone tried to simply add the cheese balls straight into the sauce to simmer, without frying before hand? I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Abruzzo and one of the locals introduced me to these and (although she is very coy and secretive of her recipes) from what I could gather from her, she just placed the formed cheese balls straight into the sauce.
Experienced this dish @ Tra Di Noi Resturant in the Italian section of “The Bronx” New York.
absolutely delicious, can’t wait to make.
October 9,2017
CAROL SIANO
Enjoy, Carol!
Is it possible to make these ahead?? I’m thinking they’ll be perfect for Christmas Eve (since they’re meatless) and a lot of the kids in the family don’t eat fish!
You can definitely form the pallotte ahead, then cook them when you’re ready to eat. Not sure about whether the complete dish would keep very well, though. I can’t say that I’ve tried it.
I grew up eating pallotte, mostly for Friday dinner. Over the years they slipped out of my repertoire but this post jostled pleasant memories. I made them when my grandchildren visited and they were devoured. My grandmother never soaked her breadcrumbs, so I don’t either, using two slices of good quality white bread for 4 eggs. I use twice as much garlic. I then add both Romano and Parmesan to make a somewhat loose batter. After browning, I place them in the same pan with crushed tomatoes, water, salt, pepper and shredded fresh basil and allow them t simmer, stirring occasionally until they are plump and tender and the sauce is reduced. I never put the batter in the fridge before but that’s an excellent idea. Thanks, Frank, for bringing this old Nonna back to her childhood!
You’re welcome, Loretta! Next time I make these I’ll try your grandmother’s recipe… sounds nice.
Great dish! Had this last week visiting in Vasto . Just the way my grandmother used to make it. they were oblong simmered in light tomato sauce.
Sounds delicious, Giovann. Thanks for your comment!
Love il Caccio e Uova. Born in Abruzzi, the taste and above all the aroma of these “poor men “meatballs, never ever leaves your senses!!!!!
My recipe calls for the bread crumbs soaked in milk and then squeezed before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. Result: polpette are soft, tasty and full of flours!!!!
However, I do enjoy trying different recipes.
Cin….cin
Is there a way to make the balls gluten free?
I’m not really sure, but I do believe that there are gluten-free breads you can buy. I don’t see any reason they wouldn’t work in this recipe.
Can i substitute bread crumbs for white bread?
Bread crumbs can be substituted for soaked and crumbled bread in many Italian recipes (like meatloaf), but I’m not sure about this one. I’ve never tried it, but my hunch is that the balls would turn out a bit too stiff. But why not try it and let us know?
I used the bread crumbs and it was awesome. That’s good because I typically don’t have white bread but always have bread crumbs. It was a big hit. I added bread crumbs slowly until it was the right consistency.
Great to hear, Stacey! Thanks for testing it out.
WOW! These were delicious. With a 9 month old it’s sometimes hard to get excited about cooking. We will definitely make these again. Thanks
That’s awesome, Suz. So glad you enjoyed them!
This has to be the most authentic italian cooking page I’ve seen! I didn’t even know people KNEW what polpette di uova were! In Sicily – thats what we called it – and here my Mom called it cheese balls… My daughter loves them and every time I make them – they don’t come out right because you know – there are no measurements in recipes – so it’s , eggs, cheese, bread, garlic – good luck. lol.
I’m very happy I found you!
Thanks Lilli! We’re glad you found us, too! 🙂
yummy! yummy!
Thanks!
I must admit I had not heard of this dish. It sounds and looks very nice. Your description reminded me that when my mother made polpette with leftover bollito, the first day we ate them plain, still warm from the frying pan, crisp outside and soft inside. Then, she served the leftover in tomato sauce and by then they were soft all the way through.
P.S. Personally, I’m not very fond of tomato and bell pepper together either 😉
Ooh, that sounds so good, Simona! I happen to have some leftover bollito in the fridge right now, I might give that a try tonight…
Major yum looking!!!!
Thanks, Ale!
olá estou com vontade comer agora esta delicia.
Obrigado, Bernadete!
Aren’t these to die for, Frank? Someone in Abruzzo told me they’re nicknamed “i sospiri” because of the sighs they invoke. Thanks for clarifying the fact that it doesn’t really matter what kind of cheese you use When I initially posted a recipe for these and included Pecorino Romano as an ingredient (more accessible in the US), I got some pretty sharp criticism from Abruzzesi who are very proud of their nearly-impossible-to-find Pecorino di Farindola!! Cari saluti, Michelle
They sure are. I’m sure that pecorino from Abruzzo makes it even more to die for, but those of us writing for an audience outside Italy have to make some compromises, don’t we? Even if it scandalizes the purists back home….
They look delicious – I have never heard if them before – I can’t wait to try them
They’re definitely worth a try!
These meatless “meatballs” are making a comeback in Abruzzo, Frank. I had them at several different restaurants ~ fancy ones, no less ~ this past summer when I was there. Coincidentally, I had mentioned these last weekend when I was visiting my folks in NJ. I had made them a batch of the eggplant “meatballs” from my new book and so I asked my mom about polpette ‘cacio e ove.’ Oddly, she had never heard of them, even though she is an Abruzzo native. Maybe because she was from a fairly well-to-do family? Who knows. That’s the beauty of Italian cooking ~ hyper local, and always something new (or old) to be discovered. I make a similar recipe, which I call “egg cutlets” but I found it years ago in an old issue of Gourmet. A reader had submitted in the letters to the editor section of the magazine. My kids loved them when they were little. Cheers amico.
Everything old becomes new again, as they saying goes! Or, more to the point, what is humble becomes chic with time. I’ve also asked a friend of mine who is Abruzzese about these as well. She came from a humbler background so her family may have made them. Still waiting for an answer!
My mom used to whip up something really similar after making cotolette. She would mix the leftover crumbs with the leftover eggs and add enough grated cheese to bind the whole batter and then she would fry them with the cotolette. Us kids used to fight over those breadballs!
Ha! Great minds think alike, as they say. See post scriptum:
http://memoriediangelina.com/2013/06/02/mozzarella-in-carrozza-fried-mozzarella-sandwiches/
è incredibile quanto una ricetta semplice possa essere assolutamente perfetta! Le farò presto, grazie Frank !
Grazie, Chiara! Se provi la ricetta, fammi sapere come ti viene…
I am “molto contento” of having stumbled on to your web site.
Having been raised in a typical Italian family, I though I knew just about everything about “La Cucina Italiana”. However, you are a source of constant amazement at the dishes you’ve posted. I only wish I had a stomach large enough to try ALL of your offerings.
Ciao!!!
And I’m molto contento to read your kind comment, Enzo!