We have another reader from Italy that would like to share one of her recipes. Lina is from Grossetto, an area filled with Tuscan Hill Towns where the Etruscans used to live.
In Italian, meat balls are called polpettine and meat loaf is called polpettone – which literally translated means giant meat ball! Once you read how easy it is to make a mushroom cream sauce you will never buy the stuff in a can or envelope again!
She uses frozen procini mushrooms which are easy to find in Italian super-markets. If you cannot get your hands on fresh or frozen porcini you can substitute dried, which have been just a little rehydrated – the rest will happen while you make the sauce.
You can visit Lina’s blog, written in Italian, where she has lots of recipes – not just those for the pressure cooker!
Here is Lina’s Recipe:
This is a very quick recipe to prepare. It’s for anyone who is in a hurry, and probably comes home tiered from work. The mushroom cream is delicious, and if you haven’t guessed, I adore porcini! It’s a truly delicious dish, and cooked this way it is soft, delicate, and so flavorful!
| Lina’s Giant Meatball with Porcini Cream Sauce in the Pressure Cooker 16 oz. or 500 gr of bread crumbs (one cup reserved for dredging) 1 lb. or 500 gr. ground beef (or a mix of pork and beef) 2 medium eggs 1/4 cup or 50 gr. Pine Nuts 1 tbsp. Raisins 1 cup of Scamorza cheese, cubed (you can substitute Provolne, Cacciocavallo, Mozerella or any semi-soft cheese) 3 Tbsp of Parmiggiano Reggiano, grated 2 cups of Porcini Mushrooms (Fresh, frozen or rehydrated) 1 1/2 cups of Milk 1 sprig, Rosemary 1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg Olive Oil Salt & Pepper |
Soften the bread crumbs in cold water, squeeze it well, add the ground meat, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, pine nuts, raisins, and all of the cheese.
Make two small loaves with the mixture, dredge it in bread crumbs and put them in the pressure cooker with just a little bit of oil and turn them several times to brown all of the sides. Add one glass of warm milk, close and lock the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 20 to 25 minutes. When they are cooked, delicately pull the loaves out of the pan and wrap them in tin foil to let them rest. Back in the pressure cooker, add the mushrooms, a few needles of rosemary, the rest of the milk and reduce in the open pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Then, using a stick blender, puree’ the contents of the pressure cooker. Slice the little loaves and place them in a serving dish and drizzle the mushroom cream on top.
Serves 6
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That looks totally delicious and pretty gourmet for meatloaf.
I am always looking for slightly fancy recipes for company dinners, and this might be my next effort,
Helen
Thank you @HelenAdams,
One of the first things I made when I got my PC was Lorna Sass’s meatloaf. It was a flop. Edible but a long way from palatable to my taste. Several years on you flagged this recipe. No I didn’t make it, but it did inspire me to try my favourite meatloaf in the PC. A pulpettun from Malta.
I made it following my Tess Mallos recipe, only leaving out the boiled eggs placed in the centre because I was wary of what the PC would do to already cooked eggs. Besides we have just switched to home grown eggs and our supply is not yet reliable enough to spare several for an experiment. And they are eggs to revere.
I vaguely followed the methodology here and I have to report it was a raging success. The sauce (tomato rather than mushroom) was a little thin though, so it still needs work, but it is going back on the high rotation menu. Only pressure cooked for 20 minutes instead of 90 minutes in the oven.
@Greg
I have successfully made two meatloaves with the method from
http://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/2014/11/bbq-bacon-meatloaf/
and my own favourite meatloaf recipe.
Totally delicious and looked just like the pictures both times.
But… I thought I was meatloaved out till I saw your recipe. Now I will have to make another meatloaf in the near future.
Helen
PS.
I too will leave out the eggs because I dislike hard boiled eggs. But a nice soft boiled/poached egg served on top of each slice could be an interesting addition:)
Helen