Mercer Street Meals’ ricotta polpette are ‘meatless comfort food’
A very dear friend just introduced me to Mercer Street meals, and I have become a big fan of their delicious food and very generous portions. I thoroughly enjoyed the eggplant parmigiana meal. The meal included ricotta polpette. They were absolutely delicious! Is there any way that you can get the recipe?
— Chris Prue, Rabun Gap
Chef Lance Gummere started Mercer Street Meals early in the pandemic. Cooking out of his home kitchen in Ormewood Park, he prepared ready-made family-friendly meals for his neighbors, posting the menu on his neighborhood Facebook page. In 2023, Gummere and his wife, Gracie, opened their East Atlanta storefront with a rotating menu of at least five meals per week available to preorder.
“Every Monday night, we offer a meatless meal so we’re constantly looking for fun meat substitutes. These ricotta polpette can be served on top of pasta, just like you would serve meatballs. Our customers tell us it’s ‘meatless comfort food.’ Make this on a cold or rainy night and serve with some pasta and crunchy bread,” Gummere wrote when he shared the recipe.
Prepare the ricotta balls one hour ahead of time and refrigerate, then poach in pasta sauce when ready to serve.
Mercer Street Meals’ Ricotta Polpette
- 2 cups whole milk ricotta, any liquid in container drained off
- 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/3 cup), plus more for garnish
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves, plus whole leaves for garnish
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Morton kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 2 cups dry breadcrumbs
- 4 cups pasta sauce, homemade or store-bought
- Extra virgin olive oil
- In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir together ricotta, Parmesan cheese, eggs, egg yolks, basil, salt, garlic and red pepper flakes.
- Stir in bread crumbs.
- Use a 2-tablespoon measure to portion out 24 ricotta balls. Arrange balls on a plate or baking sheet and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Bring pasta sauce to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- When sauce is simmering, add ricotta balls and reduce heat to low. Cover saucepan. Let sauce and polpette simmer 15 minutes.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove polpette from sauce and divide between four serving dishes.
- Divide pasta sauce between serving dishes, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with Parmesan cheese and whole basil leaves.
Serves 4.
Per serving, with 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan garnish, without olive oil drizzle: 617 calories (percent of calories from fat, 44), 23 grams protein, 62 grams carbohydrates, 21 grams total sugars, 6 grams fiber, 30 grams total fat (12 grams saturated), 288 milligrams cholesterol, 1,863 milligrams sodium.
From the menu of ... Mercer Street Meals, 845 Flat Shoals Ave., Atlanta, mercerstreetmeals.com.
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.
