The humble meatball hardly needs an introduction. Call them rissoles or, as we do in Italy, polpette, the name doesn’t matter – they encapsulate all that is good and comforting about honest home cooking. Simply combine everyday, inexpensive ingredients and you’ll soon have a tasty bite-sized morsel that the whole family will enjoy.

Their versatility is rather impressive, too. There are mini ones (perfect as finger food served at a cocktail party), and the larger variety, which can be cooked in a white wine sauce and enjoyed with rich potato mash or soft polenta.

Alternatively, you can also cook polpette by roasting them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil until a crunchy crust forms on top, trapping a soft moist interior, or by flattening them with a fork and grilling them as Italian-style burgers. With this dish, you can really unleash your creativity. One thing is certain, though: when I make polpette, it’s always in a double batch!

Once you’ve rolled them into walnut-sized balls, you can even place them on an oven tray lined with baking paper and freeze them. Once frozen, keep them in a zip-lock bag for easy storage. That way, you can add a few straight from the freezer to a simple vegetable soup for an extra protein boost, or simmer them in a pot of tomato sugo to create that much-loved Italian-American classic, spaghetti meatballs.

Making polpette is also perfectly suited to little fingers (the skills required to roll them are similar to shaping Play-Doh creations). So, why not gather the kids around the kitchen bench, don your aprons and whip up a mega batch of these nuggets? They’ll nourish their little tummies and their souls, too.

Find my recipe for veal and ricotta polpette here.