Name: Truscello di Messina (Meatball and Ricotta Bake)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 5 eggs; 500 ml/17 fl oz/generous 2 cups strongly-flavoured beef stock; 275 g/10 oz/1 ¼ cups very lean minced/ground beef; 115 g/4 oz/2 cups stale white breadcrumbs, plus extra if needed; 45 ml/3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley; sea salt and ground black pepper; 115 g/4 oz/1 ⅓ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra if needed; 275 g/10 oz drained fresh ricotta cheese; 1.5 ml/¼ tsp ground cloves

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Italian Regional Cookbook

By Valentina Harris

Published 2017

About

Truscello is a delicious, very light dish made up of tiny balls of clove-scented ricotta and beef, layered in a dish, bathed in stock and poached in the oven. The preparation is a bit fiddly but well worth the effort. It comes from Messina, which is the third-largest city on the island of Sicily.

Ingredients

275 g/10 oz/1 ¼ cups very lean minced/ground beef
115

Method

Put the beef in a large bowl. Season well with salt and pepper, then add 30 ml/2 tbsp of the Parmesan cheese with the breadcrumbs and parsley. Beat 2 of the eggs lightly and add