What to do with leftover bread? Some meatballs!

Stale bread meatballs are a wonderful dish, perfect for all occasions: let's discover the recipe together to prepare this simple and tasty dish.

Today we see how to prepare bread balls, a useful recovery dish if you want to reuse the stale bread left over a few days earlier. To prepare them you need little time and few ingredients, but you will see that the result will conquer all your guests.

This is a very common recipe throughout Italy, especially in the South where Apulian bread meatballs are prepared, a very simple peasant dish which more or less corresponds to the preparation we will show you today.

What are we waiting for? Let's go straight to the kitchen to make this marvelous dish!

How to make bread balls

1. First of all, take your stale bread and remove the crust . When you have obtained the crumb, using a knife, cut it into small cubes and then place them in a large bowl.
2. Now it's time to pour the milk… and wait ! That's right, because the bread will have to absorb all the liquid and become soft.
3. At this point you can proceed and combine the rest of the ingredients, and then add the egg , the grated cheese, the finely chopped parsley, the salt and the pepper. Obviously, since these are meatballs, any modification is welcome: cured meats, cheeses and anything else, use what you like best to flavor your meatballs.
4. When you have mixed all the ingredients and obtained a homogeneous consistency, then you can make the meatballs by shaping them with your hands (you can opt for a round or more flattened shape depending on your taste). Dip them in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs, then leave them to rest on a baking tray.

Also try many other recipes with stale bread !

Cooking meatballs and variations

Let's see, now that we have made our homemade meatballs, how to cook them . Here we offer you two alternatives and a tasty version to enjoy them to the fullest

– Fried bread balls. In this way you will opt for violent, fast but also less light cooking, very faithful to the traditional Apulian version. Once the meatballs have been breaded, heat some seed or frying oil and when it is hot, lower them gently and not all at a time . When they are nice and golden on the outside, remove them and dry them with a sheet of kitchen paper.

– Baked bread balls. With this method you will obtain lighter cooking, but it will take longer (about 30/40 minutes). Take a baking tray lined with baking paper, grease it lightly and place the meatballs. Cook at 180°C and, once halfway through, turn the meatballs for even cooking .

– Bread meatballs with sauce. If you want to serve them stewed , you can prepare a fantastic tomato sauce to serve the meatballs with. Sautéed onion, garlic, rustic puree and some basil leaves… and that's it! Then cook the meatballs directly in the pan, or accompany them with the sauce after frying them.

Can't get enough? Here are all our meatball recipes !

storage

Depending on how they are cooked, these meatballs will have different storage times: in fact, we recommend that you eat the fried ones immediately and while still hot (otherwise, as time passes, they will become soft and much less appetizing). As for the baked meatballs and those with sauce, you can store them for 1-2 days in the refrigerator , inside a special container with an airtight lid. We do not recommend freezing.

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