Pallotte Cacio e Uovo by Guest Blogger Rebecca Galante

Thank you to Rebecca Galante from Vasto, Italy, in the Abruzzo region, for today’s Italian recipe. Rebecca offers guided tours and visits to the Abruzzo region to tourists interested in the culinary and cultural history. Famous for its chefs and coastline, Abruzzo is beautiful and less crowded than Tuscany or other well-traveled areas in Italy. I hope you’ll visit her website to learn more about what she offers.

Cheese and egg balls cooked in tomato and capsicum (chili) sauce

“Pallotte cacio e uovo” is the original name of a genuine and tasty recipe typical of Abruzzo, an Italian middle south region located on the Adriatic coast. Because this is a typical dish, is possible to find many version of it. Mine is referred to my town called Vasto. Cacio e Uovo represents a good main course and usually three balls each are enough considering that you can’t start eating Cacio e Uovo without a couple of fresh bread’s slices on the table.

Ingredients (serves four)

Cheese and egg balls

4 eggs

Pecorino/Parmigiano cheese ca. 150 gr

Bread Crumbs on request

Crumb (the inside of the bread) on request

Ricotta cheese 100 gr

Sauce:

500 gr fresh tomatoes cut into small pieces

1 sliced capsicum (chili)

1 onion

Olive oil: 2 spoon for each person
Take a large base medium to high pan (a clay pan is the best choice) and add the olive oil, the onion and the capsicum. Once the onion starts to yellow, please add your tomato. Over a medium to low fire, let it cooked slowly. Once the tomato will be cooked, add one and a half glass of water and wait until water boils.

In the meanwhile, put the eggs, the pecorino cheese (starting with 100 gr), the bread crumbs, the crumb and the ricotta into a terrine. You need to mix all these ingredients together with a fork until they will be compact and ready to make balls. It will take a little bit, so don’t give up. You should add bread crumbs, crumbs and the rest of the cheese as it is required. In this way they will be more and more dry and sticky and they will be ready to make balls.

We left the tomato with the water. Soon it will start boiling. This is the moment to put on it our egg and cheese balls. Before to make mistakes please make one ball (medium size) and put it on the sauce. Only now you will see if the ball is compact enough: wait 5 min. Is the ball still one piece? Or it is melted? In the first case you know that you can go on, please finish all of them and put them in the pan with the tomato. Cover it and let them cook 20 minutes. After this term please turn them in the other side and let them finish cook another 20 min. Remember Medium Low fire

If the ball will melt means that you need to add in the terrine more breadcrumbs and crumb or cheese!! And go on like before.