Carnival meatballs are an essential dish of the Prato culinary tradition, prepared with enthusiasm during the Carnival period, especially on the occasion of Shrove Tuesday. This recipe stands out for its flavor that takes us back in time, thanks to the use of ingredients such as raisins and pine nuts, which give the dish a Renaissance touch. In fact, the idea of transforming leftover meat from Renaissance court banquets into a rich mixture fried in abundant oil was an intuition of the chefs of those times.

Start by finely chopping onion, celery and carrot; then, brown the ground meat and add half a tube of tomato paste dissolved in a cup of broth.

Add the piece of meat, braise and then incorporate the tomato sauce.

Season with salt and pepper and cook everything over a low heat for about 2 and a half hours.

Once cooking is finished, mince the meat and put it back in the sauce; then, add the same amount of stale bread cut into pieces. Cook until you obtain a compact mixture.

Then add the eggs, parmesan cheese, soaked and squeezed raisins, pine nuts, salt and pepper to the meat.

With slightly damp hands, shape not too large balls, roll them in breadcrumbs and fry them in plenty of hot oil.