Christmas tree? This year, I prepare it directly in the kitchen, in the stove! We prepare the green of the tree with spinach, the cherry tomatoes will be the balls, and the bechamel will serve as snow! What are we waiting for? Let's work!
Taken from https://www.my-personaltrainer.it/Tv/Ricette/Secondi_piatti/albero-di-polpette-spinaci.html
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Identity Card of the Recipe
- 144 KCal Calories per serving
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Ingrediants
For the meatballs
- 100 g of spreadable cheese
- 20 g of breadcrumbs
- 50 g of grated Parmesan cheese
- Cooked food: 250 g of rice
- Q.b of salt
- Q.b of chilli
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 50 g of cherry tomatoes
To serve
- 150 ml of milk
- 15 g of cornstarch
- Q.b of salt
- Q.s. of pepper
- 1 grated nutmeg
- 30 g of bread
Materials Needed
- Cooking pan
- Bowl
- Casserole
- Baking tray
Taken from https://www.my-personaltrainer.it/Tv/Ricette/Secondi_piatti/albero-di-polpette-spinaci.htmPreparation
- Fill a saucepan with water, lightly salt and boil the rice: drain the rice when it is al dente.
- Steam the fresh spinach, then collect them in the blender to obtain a cream.
- Mix the spinach cream obtained with spreadable cheese and boiled rice, then season with the Grana cheese and season with salt. To compact the dough, add the breadcrumbs to obtain a soft and workable mixture with your hands.
The alternative to rice
For softer meatballs, replace the boiled rice with boiled potatoes reduced to a puree.- Take a spoonful of dough and roll it in your hands to form meatballs.
- Wash the cherry tomatoes and collect them in a pan. Drizzle them with a drizzle of oil, add a little salt and pepper.
- Arrange the spinach balls on a baking sheet, add a drizzle of oil and cook for 15 minutes in the oven, turning them halfway through cooking.
- Meanwhile, prepare the light béchamel. Dissolve the corn starch in a little milk; pour the remaining milk into the saucepan and bring to the boil, adding salt, pepper and nutmeg. When the milk boils, add the corn starch and, continuing to stir, cook until the mixture thickens.
- When the meatballs are ready, take them out of the oven and devote yourself to shaping the sapling. Arrange the meatballs neatly, forming a tall triangle. Pour the béchamel over the meatballs, to recreate the "snow effect". Complete with the cooked cherry tomatoes, as if they were Christmas balls.
- To form the trunk, use a piece of black bread.
- Serve immediately.
Taken from https://www.my-personaltrainer.it/Tv/Ricette/Secondi_piatti/albero-di-polpette-spinaci.htmlAlice's comment - PersonalCooker
Even for Christmas and New Year's Eve, we fill up with goodness, lightness and taste by bringing these meatballs to the table! I am sure that thanks to the captivating shape of this dish you will be able to make even the little ones eat spinach: shall we bet?
Taken from https://www.my-personaltrainer.it/Tv/Ricette/Secondi_piatti/albero-di-polpette-spinaci.htmlNutritional values and Health Comment on the recipe
That of the Spinach Meatballs is a recipe that belongs to the group of main courses.
These are not too caloric foods, whose energy is supplied mainly by lipids, followed by carbohydrates and finally by proteins.
Fatty acids are mainly unsaturated, complex carbohydrates and peptides of high biological value.
Fiber is scarce and cholesterol is also not excessive.
They do not contain histamine-rich ingredients (except cherry tomatoes) and histamine-liberating ingredients. There are also gluten and lactose.
Spinach Meatballs are also suitable for diets against overweight and metabolic diseases such as: hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, etc. They must be totally eliminated from the diet for celiac disease and lactose intolerance.
It is a recipe that respects the lacto-ovo vegetarian criteria but not the vegan ones.
The average portion of Spinach Meatballs is 100 g (about 145 kcal).
