Angie Pontani Takes Over the Kitchen Stage

Burlesque star Angie Pontani is a wife and mother with some old savory Italian family recipes in her back pocket, which means at home she is queen of the kitchen! 

Angie has shared with Weener Magazine her Nonna Mary’s Meatball Stew. Yes! It’s as good as it sounds! Nothing like passing down an Italian grandma’s meatball and sauce recipe. In this case. It’s Nonna’s recipe. According to Pontani, her Nonna never measured ingredients, rather she went on instinct. Lucky for us we have the recipe with the proper mixture. 

Try this recipe at home and be sure to tag #WeenerMag in the photos.

Nonna Mary’s Meatball Stew

Serves 8 to 12, depending on who you are feeding!

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 lb. beef
• 1 lb. pork
• 1 lb. veal
• 3 eggs, 2 whole, one yolk only, mix with fork in small bowl
• 1 cup grated Pecorino Romano (+ a bit more for serving)
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper

Sauce

• Olive oil
• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped small
• 2 to 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2″ cubes
• 12 ounces frozen peas
• 72 ounces of Passata (sauced tomatoes)
• 1 yellow onion (peeled and stabbed with a fork on all sides)
• 24 ounces of water (before adding the water, I pour it into my empty Passata jars, so it can grab that left-over tomato power clinging to the jar)

1 – 2 loaves of fresh Italian bread for serving

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, add ground meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese. Mix well but not too much! You don’t want to over-work the meat. Roll meatballs into about an 1.5-inch diameter and bake for 12 minutes on a baking sheet. Remove and set aside.  They are not fully cooked, so don’t snack on them yet. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Heat a healthy dash of olive oil in large pot, add passata and bring to a simmer. Next, add your peeled but whole yellow onion, allow sauce to return to a simmer again and add meatballs carefully and one by one. Allow the sauce to a simmer again and add some of your water and passata mix,  then add your carrots and potatoes.

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