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Polpettone di Vitello al Sedano or Veal Loaf with Celery

Polpettone di Vitello al Sedano

For the last month, our schedule has been impacted by my husband’s undergoing a 17.5-hour surgery for an hiatal hernia, hence the irregular postings to my blog as well as commenting on others. The surgery has also affected our daily menus with temporary restrictions on what my better half can safely consume.

So far, he’s been home for only a couple of days and, surprisingly, we’ve been able to have enjoyable dinners both nights. On his first night home we had skin-on bone-in chicken thighs over roasted with onions and red bell peppers. Last night, following the surgeon’s suggestion, I prepared a new recipe for a meat loaf from Hazan’s Marcella’s Italian Kitchen: Polpettone di Vitello al Sedano, or Veal Loaf with Celery. (It’s amazing how almost everything sounds better in Italian. Polpettone, by the way, is Italian for “big meatball.”)

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Sunday Brunch

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Never before have I ever held a brunch. But there’s a first time for everything, even at 65, and so on Sunday, we had our first one.

The menu was simple and, for the most part, all the dishes were prepared ahead of time.

Appetizers included humus, a selection of olives, savory crackers, nuts, crudités, etc.

Our first course was a 12-egg frittata with peppers, onion, basil, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, served at room temperature

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The second course was a turkey meatloaf wrapped in pancetta and was accompanied by peas. The recipe came from Giada De Laurentiis on the Food Network website. Here’s a link to the recipe I used.

In lieu of the sun dried tomatoes that were called for, I substituted raisins remaining true to my Neapolitan-Sicilian heritage. I also added a generous pinch of ground cumin to the seasonings.

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Prosecco was the wine of choice for both the appetizers and the frittata. We served a Rosso Piceno, a Sangiovese form Italy’s Marche region with the meat.

Dessert was a store-bought nut tart and brownies.

Good company and conversation made the brunch a success, but for entertaining, I think I’ll stick with dinners.