It’s nearly three months since New York City restaurants closed for COVID-19, and Il Posto Accanto on the Lower East Side is one place I'm missing dearly. Chef Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta and her husband Julio Pena, serving delicious Italian food in their intimate, festive wine bar, make any mundane weeknight feel like a holiday. I recently texted with Beatrice to see what she's cooking at home and what's happening with the restaurant.
While reopening details are still being hashed out, Il Posto Accanto is planning to add food delivery as a new option. "In the meantime, we keep busy: we cook with the Petunias live on IG on Saturdays, we deliver food to friends that are afraid to leave their apartments, and we cook for doctors in the ER." One dish Beatrice recently prepared for the healthcare heroes is Polpette Carne e Patate, a beloved staple from her home kitchen.
Polpette carne e patate by chef Beatrice - Il Posto Accanto
Her version of this classic recipe was inspired while hanging out in Montevarchi with a girlfriend, who was nibbling on a cold polpetta, "I got food envy." Beatrice admits she's not crazy about the taste of beef. Still, being a traditional Italian, she compromised by adding boiled potatoes to the mixture to hide the flavor, a useful trick for stretching the budget.
She substitutes polenta for breadcrumbs resulting in a gluten-free dish that can you can either bake or fry. Beatrice recommends serving these polpette with lemon wedges, not with sauce. And she suggests making extra since the leftovers taste even better.
I attempted making both the baked and fried versions of Beatrice's recipe. Instead of using two inches of olive oil for frying, I scaled back to about ¼ inch, yet the fried batch was hands-down my family's favorite. I used one cup of polenta, not two, and still had some leftover. Since I don't have a ricer, I used a grater to shred the potatoes. We enjoyed these polpette for dinner along with an arugula salad with goat cheese and pine nuts and as snacks the day after—a welcomed new addition to my home cooking menu.
* You can help support Il Posto Accanto by purchasing gift certificates and restaurant merchandise at ilpostoaccantonyc.com.
Polpette carne e patate cooked by Mary Jane Quan (brava!)
Polpette Carne e Patate by Chef Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta
Ingredients:
1 lb ground chuck
3/4 lb potatoes
2 large eggs
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (the quantity depends whether you are using freshly grated or ground)
½ cup chopped parsley
5 cloves of garlic minced (use as little or as a lot as you like)
½ cup grated Parmigiano
¾ tsp sea salt or to taste
½ tsp ground black pepper or to taste or you can make them spicy with chili
2 cups instant polenta or instant grits
oil for frying
lemon wedges
Ingredients (ph by chef Beatrice)
Method:
Boil the potatoes skin on until done.
Peel and rice over a big bowl so it cools faster. You do not want the potatoes to be soggy.
Once the potatoes are cool add all the ingredients, except the polenta, and mix well with your hands. I usually taste at this point; whatever does not kill me makes me chubbier LOL.
Mixing (ph by chef Beatrice)
Form the “polpette”, you want the size of a big golf ball, and then flatten it a bit.
Bread using the instant polenta or instant grits.
You have two possibilities: fry in skillet with two inches of good frying oil or preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper lightly brushed with extra virgin olive oil and cook for 30 minutes turning the polpette halfway through cooking.
Serve with lemon wedges.
Happy Mary Jane tasting her very own homemade polpette!