6 posts tagged “meatballs”
I can't believe my blog has gone on this long without mention of keftedes. It's just unacceptable! Keftedes are the ever-so-famous Greek meatballs that often grace the typical Greek's table at any hour of day. They can be appetizers, sides, snacks, or a main dish. A bigger version of a kefteda is often called a bifteki - that's about the size of a hamburger, but not as flat.
Now, you know I'm all about making things healthy whenever possible right? I'm all over reducing the amount of oil and butter in a recipe, swapping out certain ingredients, etc. I'd even suggest baking meatballs instead of pan frying them when you are making something like spaghetti and meatballs. So you'll just have to trust me when I say - you are going to want to pan fry these babies. It's just the right thing to do, ok? Do not let me catch you baking a Greek kefteda!
When I was young, keftedes and homemade French fries were one of my absolute favorite meals. When I was young, I was a fat kid. :)
The other day, I paired the keftedes with a relatively lighter Greek-style potato salad (coming to a future Vox post near you) and green salad. So now that your sides are nice and healthy, you are going to feel just fine about the pan frying.
Keftedes (Greek Meatballs)
1 slice of bread
milk
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 an onion, finely diced or grated
2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 heaping tsp. dried oregano
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp. salt
freshly ground pepper
flour, for dredging
olive oil, for pan frying
Put your slice of bread into a bowl and then pour milk into the bowl. Allow the bread to soak up the milk as you are prepping your other ingredients. Squeeze the bread to get rid of some of the milk, and then discard the remaining milk, keeping just the soggy bread.
Add the beef, egg, onion, garlic, oregano, parsley, salt & pepper to the bread. Mix everything together (with your hands - what Ina calls "a cook's best tools") but don't overmix. Then, shape into meatballs--any size you want.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add some olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Dredge the meatballs in flour, shaking off the excess. I find the easiest way to do this is to put some flour in your hands and then bat the meatball back and forth. When the oil is hot, add your meatballs and pan fry them until they are cooked through (working in batches, if necessary).
We Greeks are pretty simplistic when it comes to ingredients. I would venture to say that 95% of savory dishes are made with either tomatoes or lemons, and always with oregano. Desserts? Well, it just isn't a Greek dessert if it doesn't have nuts and honey. Not that I'm complaining. I love all of those ingredients and I love the simplicity of Mediterranean cooking.
Soutzoukakia (soo-tzoo-kah-kya) are one of my husbands and my favorite Greek dishes. I haven't made this dish in quite some time, as I tend to think of it as more of a fall or winter meal for some reason. When Tom suggested it for dinner, I just had to make it. Growing up, we always ate soutzoukakia over mashed potatoes. However, I have also seen them served over rice. I haven't personally tried them that way, but I still think I prefer potatoes :) The one thing we were missing tonight was some crusty bread to sop up all the tomato sauce.
As a complete side note, if you happen to be wondering, the suffix "aki" or "akia" in Greek means little. I mention this because you may have noticed that my youvarlakia also have the same suffix. Paidakia, for example, means little kids. If you wanted to call me "Ellaki" it would mean...well, little Elly, I guess. :)
Soutzoukakia
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, finely minced or grated (reserve 2-3 Tbsp).
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley or 2 tsp. dried
1 egg
1-2 Tbsp. bread crumbs (optional, my grandmas don't add them)
olive oil
1 large (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 can water
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 (good) pinch sugar
salt and pepper
corn starch slurry (optional)
Mix together the beef, onion, garlic, salt, oregano, parsley, egg, pepper to taste and breadcrumbs (if using). Form the mixture into elongaged oval-shaped meatballs.
Heat olive oil in a pan and pan-fry the meatballs until they are browned on all sides (you don't have to cook them through). Remove. You can probably bake the meatballs instead if you want, but simmer the sauce longer and maybe use a little beef broth in place of the water to add some depth to the sauce.
To the pan, add the 2-3 Tbsp onion (and more oil if necessary) and cook until translucent. Add the tomato sauce, water, bay leaf, cumin, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a low boil and add the meatballs. Simmer about 10-15 minutes. If you want a thicker sauce, add a corn starch slurry at the end.
Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.
Youvarlakia! Youvarlakia are little Greek meat and rice balls in avgolemono, or egg lemon, sauce. If you've ever had avgolemono or chicken lemon rice soup, it's pretty much the same thing but, you know, with meatballs instead of chicken :)
This is a really simple dish, and pretty healthy, to boot. You can make this more or less soup-like depending on your preferences. Just reduce or increase the amount of broth accordingly.
And can you believe I have now voluntarily tempered eggs for 2 days in a row?
Youvarelakia
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, divided
4 cups broth
1 lb. extra lean ground beef (and not just for the nutrition, but so you don't get a greasy broth!)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
3-4 Tbsp. fresh parsley or 1-2 T dried
fresh dill, to taste
ground pepper, to taste
4 eggs, divided
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2-3 lemons)
Cut the onion in half. Finely mince or grate one half and put in a medium sized bowl.
Dice the other half of the onion. Add butter to saucepan or small casserole/stockpot to melt. Add the diced onion and cook until translucent. Add the broth to the pot and bring to a light boil.
Meanwhile, make the meatballs. To the grated/minced onion, add the beef, salt, parsley, dill, ground pepper, uncooked rice and 1 beaten egg. Form the mixture into 1" meatballs (you will get around 25 or so).
Drop the meatballs into the broth. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20-25 minutes, until meatballs cook through and rice is done. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk the 3 remaining eggs with the lemon juice until combined.
Slowly drizzle 2 ladles of the broth from the meatballs into the egg/lemon mixture, stirring continuously so as not to scramble the eggs.
Slowly pour the egg/lemon/broth mixture back into the meatballs, again stirring continuously as you do so. Season to taste again, if necessary.
Serve meatballs with a ladle of sauce (or as much as you want).
Nutrition info per servings (4 servings). Note: I used 96% lean beef, but this calorie information is using 93% lean. Calories: 361 / Fat: 15.2g / Carbs: 25g / Fiber: 1.1g / Protein: 32.7
Tonight I decided to make Swedish meatballs for the first time. I have always really liked them, but for whatever reason, never really thought to make them. I got a recipe from Allrecipes, for which I alread had all the ingredients on hand. Since I can't follow a recipe to save my life, I modified it a bit. Here is my version.
Swedish Meatballs, adapted from allrecipes
1 cup evaporated milk, divided
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
olive oil
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Dash pepper
1 pound ground beef
1 Tbsp butter
1.5 cups double strength beef broth or bouillion dissolved in hot water
2 tablespoons all-purpose flou
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Heat a skillet and add a little olive oil. Sweat onions with a pinch of salt until translucent. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup evaporated milk with breadcrumbs. Stir to combine and set aside for several minutes.
To the breadcrumb mixture, stir in onions, yolk, salt, allspice and pepper. Add meat and mix until just combined. Shape meat mixture into 1-in. balls.
In large skillet, melt butter and cook meatballs. Remove from skillet (you may want to keep in a warmed oven).
In same skillet, cook flour (add more butter if necessary) 1-2 minutes.
Slowly whisk in beef broth and simmer to thicken.
Add remaining 3/4 cup evaporated milk and heat through. Season to taste.
Return meatballs to skillet, and add lemon juice.
We had this over whole wheat egg noodles tossed with some poppy seeds, and a salad on the side.
Unfortunately I only got a few pics before my battery died, none of which were particularly good :P
Tonight we had whole wheat fettucini with chicken, mushrooms and pesto cream sauce. I LOVE pesto. What's not to love about fresh basil, cheese, garlic and pine nuts?! I never measure it when I make it but I tried to this time, so I could write it down.
Chicken
1 chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
olive oil
Season chicken with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Heat oil in a pan. Add chicken and cook through.
Pesto
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts (I usually toast an extra tbsp to put over the top of the pasta)
3 cloves garlic (I love garlic, feel free to use less)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh basil
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or as needed
salt to taste
To toast the pine nuts, just place them in a hot, dry pan over medium heat. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. Flip them around once or twice. It will only take a couple minutes. You'll know they're done because they'll have darkened up a bit, and you can smell them.
In a food processor, pulse toasted pine nuts and garlic until combined. Add in basil and process. Add parm and--you guessed it--process until combined.
Add olive oil in a steady stream while continuing to process, to desired consistency. Salt to taste. Leave pesto mixture in processor until ready to use.
Mushrooms/cream
1 tbsp butter
1/2 lb. fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup half and half (or cream)
salt and pepper to taste
Heat butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Add half and half and bring just to scalding (don't boil it), let it thicken a couple minutes.
Add about half of the liquid to the food processor with the pesto. Pulse process for just a few seconds until well combined. Pour pesto-cream mixture back into mushroom-cream mixture. Warm through. Toss with pasta and chicken. Top with leftover pine nuts and parmesan cheese if desired.
And yesterday we had Italian wedding soup.
Again, I tried to write down ingredients.
Meatballs
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 small onion, grated
2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp bread crumbs
1/2 tablespoon fresh basil
3/4 tsp dried parsley (obviously you could use about 2T fresh but I didn't have any on hand)
1 egg white
Combine all ingredients and make into 1/2" meatballs. Simple enough, huh? I usually refrigerate mine for a couple hours or up to a day to meld the flavors/firm them up a bit.
Soup
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 clove minced garlic
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves)
8 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup acini di pepi or other small pasta
8 oz. fresh spinach or escarole or curly endive or........
Melt butter in stockpot. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic and thyme, and cook until veggies get tender, but not too soft.
Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Turn heat down a bit and simmer about 20-30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Drop in meatballs and cook about 5 minutes before dropping in acini di pepi. Cook about 6 more minutes before adding spinach. Cook spinach 2-3 minutes.
Apparently it is really hard to take a picture of soup when it is still steaming hot.
Extra lean ground beef (I buy 92-95% lean) is one of my favorite things. I'm not gonna lie--it doesn't always get as tender as higher fat beef so it's not always as melt-in-your-mouth good as fatty burgers, etc. But, I still like it and it satisfies my red meat cravings without being high in fat. And it's great for meatballs so you don't get a bunch of fat in the sauce. The added benefit is it's not ground turkey, which, I'm sorry to say, I don't like at all (not to mention some ground turkey is not as healthy as people assume).
Personally, I think my meatballs are pretty darn tender and tasty for using such lean ground beef. So, tonight I made good old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs!
Serves 4-6/Makes about 25 meatballs
Meatballs
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp flat leaf parsley chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 lb. ground beef (I use extra lean ground beef but if you don't mind the fat content a mixture of ground beef and ground pork works well)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
ground pepper to taste
1 tsp. dried basil or 1 Tbsp fresh
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400*
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, a pinch of salt, and cook about 2-3 minutes before adding parsley and garlic. Cook 1-2 minutes more and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, combine breadcrumbs and milk in large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add the onion mixture, beef, egg, parmesan, salt, basil and pepper to the bread crumb bowl. Mix well, but not for too long or you will toughen the meatballs. Form into 1-1.5" balls and place in a pan coated with cooking spray [I actually find it works best to hastily form the balls with something like a cookie scoop, refrigerate them for a little while and then go back to shape them a little better before adding to the oven].
Bake in oven for about 15 minutes or until done. (Alternatively you can fry the meatballs but of course that isn't as healthy).
Add cooked meatballs to pasta sauce and simmer a little, while pasta is cooking (I usually toss the pasta in the boiling water just after adding the cooked meatballs to the sauce).
Basic Sauce
1 onion, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
dash or two of red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 28oz can whole tomatoes (or 1 of each 14.5 oz cans of diced and crushed tomatoes OR just crushed tomatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
basil, fresh or dried, to taste
pinch of sugar
a few splashes of red wine (optional)
If you are using whole tomatoes, puree half the tomatoes and chop/core the remaining into chunks. Use about 1/4 cup of reserved liquid from the can, and dump the rest. If you are using diced + crushed combo or crushed alone measure to about 2 cups total tomato (add liquid to make 2 cups if necessary).
Heat olive oil in a large skillet or saucier over medium heat. Add onions and saute about a minute before adding tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Cook an additional 2 minutes or so, being careful not to burn the onion/paste, before adding garlic. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add a few splashes of red wine to deglaze (if you want) and then add tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper, and basil if you are using dried (for fresh, add right at the end). Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer covered for a thinner sauce and uncovered for a thicker sauce.
Add cooked meatballs to sauce while pasta is cooking. Toss with 8-10 oz. of your favorite pasta (I used whole wheat cappelini)
