Cacio e Uova Meatless Recipe (2024)

Looks & tastes like a meatball, except it’s not! With just one bite of this cacio e uova meatless recipe, you’ll quickly become a fan of cucina povera. You’ll be truly amazed at how good this appetizer is when you consider the ingredients:stale bread, eggs and cheese. Come and take a closerlook at this forgotten, traditional Southern Italian food.

Pallottecacio e uovaliterally means cheese and egg balls. Just likethisEasy Pasta and Lentils Recipe, here is another example of cucina povera:only basic ingredients are used, because they were often the only ones available to the war-torn peasant Italians. Cucina povera is often translated as “poor man’s food. Nowadays, this Cacio e Uova Meatless Recipe makes for the perfect vegetarian appetizer (or even a meal).

After my Easter baking blitz, I had some Caciotta cheese leftover from making myItalian Savoury Easter Cheese Pie, so I went ahead and tried this recipe out. If you do not have Caciotta cheese, you can use any other sheep’s milk cheese… a Pecorino Romano would be perfect. You can also throw in a couple of tablespoons of any cheese that has a sharp bite to it. This will provide an interesting contrast.

You will see that the recipe calls for 3 cups of cubed stale bread. I used a whole wheat pagnotta bread. Pagnotta is a rustic Italian bread, usually round in shape. I then let the bread soak in a little bit of milk. I’m always trying to find ways to increase my fiber intake. Mash up the bread/milk with a fork (or your fingers), and you should be able to achieve a uniform “mushy” texture.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic, and pepper together. In my humble opinion, the cheese provides more than enough salt to this dish. But then again, that’s the dietitian part of me speaking 🙂 Combine both the egg and the bread mixture in order to achieve a mixture that will hold together. If you find the mixture is too soft, you can add a little bit of cheese. If, on the other hand, the mixture is too dry, add a few teaspoons of a beaten egg until the texture hold its shape. Refrigerate this mixture for at least 60 minutes – this will help the flavors blend together and facilitate the rolling process.

In the meanwhile, you can prepare a quick tomato sauce (I’ve included the recipe down below) for thiscacio e uova meatless recipe.

I use my medium sized cookie scoop to make about 16 balls. They get a very light coating of flour before getting rolled around in a non-stick frying pan.

These cheese and egg balls then get to simmer in a tomato sauce for about 10 minutes until they are ready to be served.

Recipe origins

As you can probably guess, I have to thankmy paternal grandmother for introducing this cacio e uova meatless recipe to me about half a century ago!In my grandmother’s Italian dialect, this rustic food was referred to as “cace e ova”. My dad’s mom was born in Ripabottoni, in the province of Campobasso, in the Italian region of Molise. Ican honestly say that this was not a dish that I was fond of as a kid. This combinationof cheese, eggs and stale bread in the shape of lopsided balls would make an occasional appearance on the supper table, and always on a Friday (since we never ate meat on Fridays). Today, I find myself re-visiting this “forgotten” recipe.

Recently, I asked my dad about this dish and he nonchalantly said that when he was growing up in Italy,this was eaten because they could not afford to eat meat. I immediately understood this was not one of his favorite meals. Since they lived on a farm, sheep’s milk cheese and eggs were readily available, and as for the stale bread – he was always so hungry, he would have eaten just about anything! But, in the same breath, he also commented that in retrospect, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that you worked in the fields from dawn to dusk; it didn’t matter that there wasn’t an abundance of food. Life was simple and whatever they had to eat, they shared with family and friends. And those very values are the ones that resonate with me… I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, because at the end of the day, I truly believe that food is about sharing with the ones you love and mean the most to you.

And so, isn’t it funny how everything old is new again and the meals which were considered “peasant” foods are now appreciated because of their simplicity and the fact that they are meatless. And that through the generations, food is a force which brings people together.

I love to serve thisCacio e Uova Meatless Recipe as an appetizer. It’s a great conversation starter, it’s easy to prepare, and it actually tastes great!Have you ever had Cacio e Uova? Would love to hearwhat you think about this!

THANKS SO MUCHfor following and being part of theShe Loves Biscotticommunity where you will findSimple & Tasty Family-Friendly Recipes with an Italian Twist.

Ciao for now,

Maria

★★★★★ If you have made this Cacio e Uova Meatless Recipe, I would love to hear about it in the comments below and be sure to rate the recipe!

Recipe