Polpette d'uova

This is something that just reminds me of home. I really love food from Puglia, my region. It's simple, no fuss, no elaborate dishes, I might say that Californias have tried to sell a concept that has always been ours: fresh ingredients. Pugliesi are very traditional, they don't like to experiment much, the sunday lunch would be very similar in the most of the houses.
These polpette however are very characteristic in my town, I am not sure all around Puglia. There is something similar in Abruzzo where the polpette are added to a cardoon soup.
Polpette d'uova (egg polpette) are usually added during the very end of cooking to a fresh tomato sauce, which will be used to dress orecchiette, they don't need to cook in the sauce, it's enough to let them rest in the the sauce to soften.
Part of the polpette are eaten straight away after frying, before pasta, as apristomaco, to stimulate the appetite.
The polpette are nice and crunchy on the outside and tender and tasty inside. The trick is a lot of cheese. Just mix breadcrumbs (home made, does people that buy premade breadcrumbs ever read the labels?), a lot of grated cheese (we often use Rodez, but pecorino is the best substitute or, for a milder taste, half parmigiano, half pecorino), chopped parsley, a little clove of garlic finely minced, salt with moderation and eggs. Cheese is surely more than breadcrums. The polpetta is dropped in oil with the help of a spoon, so the consintency should be soft but not runny, a teaspoon if stuck in the mixture shoud hold straight.
We deep fry (peanut oil or extra vergin). This kind of polpette will produce a lot of foam, so don't overcrowed the pan and use something really deep if you don't want your oil to overflow. If you are frying a big batch consider that the oil will get dirty quickly and you might need to prepare a second pan with fresh oil .