Polpettone Ripieno

By LoriCaputo

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups pieces of crust less Italian bread cut into ½ inch pieces
• ½ cup milk
• 1 ½ lbs. ground beef
• 8 oz. Italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 eggs
• Salt and pepper
• ¼ cup water
• 1 10oz package, ready to use spinach
• 4 oz. thinly sliced proscuitto
• 3 oz. provolone cheese, cut into 2” x ¼” x 1/4 inch strips
• 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
• 18 fresh Italian parsley sprigs
• 1 tbs. oil

Preparation

Step 1

Line an 18 x 1 inch baking pan with foil. Moisten the sheet with water. Mix the bread and milk together-mash the mixture until soaked and then squeeze out the excess moisture, discarding milk. Combine the bread, beef sausage, eggs, salt, and pepper. Pat into a 12 x 14 inch rectangle, about ½ inch thick. Cover and chill.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Simmer ¼ cup water, and add spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Drain well and cool. Arrange the cooled spinach over the meat, covering completely. Cover with the proscuitto, and arrange the cheese on top. Place eggs end to end in a line down along the side of the roll. Arrange the parsley along both sides of the eggs. Roll the mixture jelly roll style, enclosing the filling completely.
Brush with 1 tbs. oil and bake until 160 degrees, about 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes.