Pallotte - Cacio e Uova (Bread & Cheese Balls)

To make the pallotte bread balls

1. Cut the bread into large chunks and place in a bowl Pour over the milk and press the bread down to submerge. Leave for 20 minutes to let the bread absorb the milk.
2. After soaking, squeeze the milk out of the bread and place in a bowl. Discard the milk.
3. Add the cheese, parsley and pepper, and using your hands, bring the mixture together to form a dough.
4. Add one egg at actime and incorporate using your hands until fully mixed. The dough should be fairly wet, but still able to mould into balls without it falling apart. If it's still very stiff, add another egg.If your dough becomes too wet, blend up some regular slices of bread in a food processor into crumbs and add to the mix to firm it up a little. Different bread absorbs at different levels, so you may need a little trial and error to get it to the right consistency. It should easily roll and hold in balls.
5. Take small portions of dough and roll into balls (about the size of a ping-pong ball) and arrange on a plate.
6. Pour the oil into a medium sized pan heat over a medium heat until it's hot (around 250ºF/180ºC). A cube of bread should sizzle lightly.
7. Add roughly 6 of the pallotte balls at a time to the oil. Fry for around 4 minutes, keeping the balls moving to ensure even frying. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a waiting paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Repeat this process with the remaining pallotte. Cover and set aside until needed. The pallotte will hold like this for a few hours.

To make the sauce

1. In a deep sauté pan or saucepan, heat the oil until just hot, then fry the garlic for 30 seconds to flavour the oil. Add the tomato passata and basil leaves and about 1 cup water and bring to a simmer. Gently bubble for 8 minutes (uncovered) to reduce slightly. Add the balls to the sauce and stir gently to coat. Simmer them in the sauce for 10 minutes, uncovered, shaking the pan occasionally to turn. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little water. If it's too thin, turn up the heat to simmer off until thickened. It should have a consistency of double/whipping cream.Remove from the heat and serve hot with a little sauce, sprinkled with a little more grated cheese.