These meatballs are inspired by Sicilian style polpette, which are often served in or with a salmoriglio, or lemon, sauce. They are actually made from ground horse meat, which is a traditional ingredient in many parts of Italy, including Sicily. 

It’s still common to find horse meat eaten in many parts of the world, including Italy (and Canada!). I myself grew up eating it as a Dutch style lunch meat, cured and smoked. To learn more about the history of eating horse, check out this article. 

Horse meat can be found for sale in some special places, but in Quebec, you can still find it in the meat department in pretty much any grocery store as it’s eaten there quite regularly. 

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea though, so if you want to swap the horse out for another meat, I don’t blame you! 

Lean beef or venison would also work very well for these meatballs.