A great weeknight supper that we cooked when Jules’ brother Peter came to stay during last week … only to discover that this is one of his reliable weeknight dinners too! Another Silver Spoon convert as we’d given him this book for Christmas.
Rigatoni con Polpettine – to serve 4
- 300g minced meat (we used a mix of beef and pork)
- 1 sprig flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- ½ garlic clove, chopped
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- plain flour, for dusting
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 celery stick, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 small sprig rosemary, chopped
- 400ml passata
- 350g rigatoni
- 25g Parmesan
Mix the meat, parsley and garlic together in a bowl, then stir in the egg and season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into small meatballs, dust with flour and set aside.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion, celery, carrot and rosemary and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Add the meatballs and turn up the heat to medium. Cook until lightly browned all over, add the passata and season with salt. Lower the heat, cover and simmer, stirring now and then, for about 40 minutes.
Cook the rigatoni in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and tip into the meatballs. Mix well and heat through for a couple of minutes.
Sprinkle over some Parmesan to serve.
Wine Suggestion: Italian of course, but it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. We drank a delightful Chianti Rufina from Fattoria di Basciano which was perfect; full of lovely cherry fruit, fresh acidity to match the tomato and ripe, grippy tannins to work with the meatballs.
(Original recipe from Silver Spoon Pasta, Phaidon Press Ltd. 2009)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
That looks so good! Great post, stop by and say hi 🙂
I’m reading this after two, sorry three, glasses of wine and I am starving!
Know the feeling!
I realise this is an old post, but would you mind if I reblogged this? I received the Silver Spoon cookbook for my birthday in June and absolutely adore it. I tried this recipe last night and it was fantastically tasty. You’ve summed it up perfectly, so I was wondering If I could reblog this?
You have a wonderful site, by the way. I’ve spent the best part of my morning scrolling through your posts and developing cravings for almost everything I’ve seen!
Yes – go for it! Glad you’re enjoying our blog. J&J
Reblogged this on John McClane's Vest and commented:
I received the ‘Silver Spoon’ cookbook a few months ago for my birthday and it is packed full of excellent Italian recipes (over 2,000 altogether – it’s like a tome of Italian cuisine). I also received a pasta maker, so last night I combined the two and made the Rigatoni with Meatballs dish. The only minor changes I made were using fettucini instead of rigatoni (because I can’t make rigatoni) and exchanging the parsley for a small handful of basil leaves.
This really is a delicious and simple dish, and it’s well worth taking the time to make. I’ve just had the leftovers cold for lunch the following day, and the tomato sauce tastes just as rich and flavoursome as it did last night.
I was going to outline the recipe for you, but Jono and Jules over at ‘Jono & Jules Do Food & Wine’ have already summed it up perfectly, so here you go: