Though I’ve made meatloaf plenty of times before, I’ve never even heard of Polpettone, an Italian-style meatloaf, before I started chatting with my friend Sean who goes back and visits his extended family in Italy once a year. My idea of Italian tends to lean more toward the tomato-based heavily sauced Italian-American style pasta but that obviously needs to change. The polpettone gets its unique flavor from lemon zest, cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg and no tomato sauce at all. Something that seemed contradictory for making a meatloaf, much less an Italian-style one. But once I took a bite of the final product, I knew my life wasn’t going to be same again. Bounce on over to Anolon for my take on Polpettone, inspired by a recipe by Carmelita Caruana.
I’m teaming up with Anolon for six weeks to create recipes for their site for the holidays! And follow their hashtag #holidayhosting for more holiday recipes and fun! A special thanks to Anolon for sponsoring this post. I was compensated for developing the recipe on their site as well as this post and all Anolon products were provided by them. However all opinions above are totally my own and are not endorsed by Anolon.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
Oh Boy!! Does that ever look good! Actually polpette are meatballs so a polpettone would be a huge meatball. The recipe looks fantastic. That is on my list for the new year. Thank you Irvin. I’m green with envy looking at your pan. My mom used just a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg in her cooking. My future hubby thought it was strange but he liked the tastes — I follow in my mom’s footsteps. She was a natural when it came to the kitchen.
Ivy says
Hi Irvin,
I love meatloaf, always skip the red sauce if I have a choice. I can’t wait to make this. We just started carrying ground veal at my work.i won’t have to go hunting for ingredients. I love the idea of using cinnamon for meat (I’ve only used it in Indian food). Thank you for another fabulous recipe!
Happy Holidays!
Ivy
Amy @Very Culinary says
I’ve never heard of Polpettone, either. But leave it to the Italians to always take things up 20 notches. Sounds completely awesome – you sort of had me at pancetta. Pinned.
Lisa @ Garnish with Lemon says
My husband will love this! Thanks for an awesome recipe and figuring out my dinner menu for tonight!
Cookin Canuck says
Lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg in a meatloaf? Now I’m officially intrigued! Without even tasting it yet, I have a feeling this would be the meatloaf to beat all others.
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl says
I love using cinnamon and nutmeg in savory dishes! Can’t wait to check this out!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets says
Oh i love this! It’s so gorgeous, heading over to print the recipe!
Clairie says
Hmm, I’ve never heard of Polpettone. The combination that gives it its unique flavor sounds really exotic, too, but it looks also really great! Now I can really appreciate such details… Even if some of my friends think that cooking is just about following the recipe, I think it’s art. And even if I’m into art, real cooking was always too complicated (and usually disappointing) for me… My eye-opening moment was a pop-up dining event I recently attended, this kind of: We met in an ordinary, home looking building and the chef was preparing the Thai sweet pork salad just in front of us, sharing his knowledge. I’ve seen the whole process and realized that creating a dish that looks delicious is easier than I thought and it’s all about the small details… So now I’m a bit experimenting and I’m planning to try this, thank you for the inspiration!
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
This looks divine. And I’m glad you’re view of Italian food is changing…Americans have unfortunately bastardized the heck out of it with the red white and green awning clad restaurants!
Pamela Gurganus says
Hello! I bounced over to Anolon to check out this recipe and it looks and sounds scrumptious! I have a couple of questions. First, the Parmesan cheese isn’t listed under the ingredients…how much do I use? Second, I’m fairly new to cooking with alcohol and not at all familiar with vermouth…could you recommend a brand? Thanks!
Irvin says
Hi Pamela,
I just reached out to Anolon to let them know about that omission! Hopefully they will update the recipe as soon as they can. You want to use 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese in the recipe. I prefer real Parmesan cheese whenever possible but since it’s so expensive, the stuff in the green canister will totally work in this recipe.
As for the vermouth, the brand isn’t super important with this recipe since you’re cooking with it, just make sure it’s a dry vermouth (the label will say dry or sweet vermouth, opt for the dry or extra dry one). Martini and Rossi has an extra dry vermouth that is pretty popular and easy to find. It’s pretty reasonably priced too. When I’m making cocktails however, I usually opt for Dolin Vermouth de Chambéry. It’s a little more expensive but has a nice floral and herbal scent. But honestly, since you’re cooking with it and adding the vermouth to all the other ingredients, I usually stick with the cheaper stuff for cooking and save the good stuff for drinking!
Hope this helps!
Pamela Gurganus says
Hi again Irvin!
I appreciate you replying so quickly! This information is indeed helpful!
My husband and I are both meatloaf lovers, but I’m still in search of that one recipe that’s going to knock our socks off. I’m thinking this is going to be the one and I’m really looking forward to making it!
Thank you for your time and most helpful advice!