Middle Eastern meatballs baked in a tomato and vegetable sauce

Serves 4- you can use 750g mince and serve 6

Ingredients

500g pork and veal mince

2 browns onions and 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 carrot, ½ cm dice

2 stalks of celery ½ cm dice

1 cup of tomato passata

1 cup of beef or chicken broth

1 big handful each or mint and parsley, washed and chopped

1 tsp ground cumin/1 tsp ground coriander- you can double these spices if you want more flavour

1 tsp salt

Optional- 250g tub of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thinly- you can find this in this nice cheese section at the supermarket, it’s a fresh mozzarella and is white in colour, will be in brine or most likely oil.

Optional chopped red chilli if you like some heat

Method

Preheat your oven to 200c or 180 c fan forced.

In a large bowl knead together the mince and 1/3 of your onion/garlic, salt, spices, most of your chopped parsley/mint (reserve some to sprinkle over the top when cooked. Knead until sticky and form 16 balls and set aside.

In a large pan heat some olive oil and fry off your meatballs for 1-2 minutes until browned. Then put in the other 2/3 of your onion/garlic, carrot, and celery- cook a further 1-2 minutes and then add  your passata and broth- simmer, stirring a further 1-2 minutes until the broth is hot. Transfer to an oven proof dish and bake for 30 minutes, uncovered. Serve up by putting some sliced buffalo mozzarella on top and your reserves parsley and mint and chilli if using.

Serve this with some rice, cous cous, flatbread or some zoodles (zucchini/vegetable noodles)

Also have with extra steamed vegetables or a nice big salad.

Italian baked meatballs with buffalo mozzarella

Serves 4- you can use 750g mince and serve 6

Ingredients

500g pork and veal mince

2 browns onions finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 carrot, ½ cm dice

1 stalk of celery ½ cm dice

1 cup of tomato passata

1 cup of beef or chicken broth

2 tsp dried basil- if you have fresh basil and oregano you can use that, just use a small handful of each and chop- or as much as you would like to use.

2 tsp dried oregano

250g tub of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thinly- you can find this in this nice cheese section at the supermarket, it’s a fresh mozzarella and is white in colour, will be in brine or most likely oil. If you can’t find it you can use normal mozzarella which is yellow and firmer or you can use grated mozzarella.

Method

Preheat your oven to 200c or 180 c fan forced.

Season the mince really well with salt and pepper, knead together until sticky and form tbsp sized balls and set aside. In a large pan heat some olive oil and fry off your meatballs for 1-2 minutes until browned. Then put in your onion, garlic, carrot, dried herbs and celery, passata and broth- simmer, stirring a further 1-2 minutes until the broth is hot. Transfer to an oven proof dish and bake for 30 minutes, uncovered.

When done-If you are using fresh buffalo mozzarella just slice and put on top of your meatballs and bake a further 5 minutes or until melted. This doesn’t take long.

If you are using the normal mozzarella which is more yellow in colour and firmer put under a hot grill on and cook for 5-8 minutes until melted and golden brown. This takes a little longer to melt than the fresh mozzarella.

Serve this with some nice crusty Italian ciabatta bread to mop up the juices, or some zoodles (zucchini/vegetable noodles) some thick cut pappardelle pasta, or pasta of your choice, or no pasta, you could even have with some creamy polenta. Also have with extra steamed vegetables or a nice big salad.

Hungarian Porcupine Meatballs

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g beef mince

½ cup of white basmati rice or quinoa

2 zucchinis, grated-squeeze excess liquid

1 finely diced onion

2 cloves of crushed garlic

Season well with salt and pepper or use some herbamare

Method

Mix the meatball ingredients together

Make 8 meatballs and put in an ovenproof dish.

In a pot add a 700ml jar of tomato passata, 1 tbsp smoked paprika and1 tbsp sweet paprika (you could use hot if you wanted) You can half the amount of paprika if you don’t like too much. Mix well and heat through.

Pour over the tomato sauce over the meatballs, cover and bake at 180 for 45 minutes. The rice should be cooked. This is something you could do the day before then just whack it in the oven. Since the oven is already on can serve with roasted vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, pumpkin, carrot etc. Just drizzle over some olive oil/coconut oil and a sprinkling of dried ground turmeric. You can also just steam some greens or wilted spinach. Pour any extra sauce over the meatballs and vegetables.

I have served up with some sour cream as it goes brilliantly with paprika (think beef stroganoff)

Meatballs with hoisin gravy, vegetables & a cashew/sesame sprinkle

Serves 4

Ingredients

500 mince, I used pork mince

1 tsp Herbamare or a really good shake of salt and pepper

¼ cup of hoisin sauce

1 tsp chinese 5 spice

1 tsp minced ginger

2 cups of beef/chicken bone broth or beef/chicken stock

4 celery stalks, sliced thin on an angle

2 capsicums, sliced

2 bunches of bok choy (or other Asian veg) washed, ends sliced off and chopped into

3 cm slices

¼ cup of roughly chopped cashew nuts

1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method

In a bowl mix the mince with the herbamare/salt & pepper, mix with your hands until it is a little sticky then roll into 20 balls. This is about 1tbsp each. Put in fridge until you need them.

Hoisen gravy

In a large pan mix the hoisin sauce, ginger, chinese 5 spice and broth. Simmer for 5 minutes until has reduced by about half and has thickened like gravy. Set aside. Alternatively you can just add 1 cup of broth and use a sprinkle of tapioca flour until you achieve the thickness you want. By reducing the 2 cups of broth though you get a more intense flavour.

Method

 

In a pan heat a little coconut oil and brown your meatballs, this takes about 2 minutes, then add your hoisen gravy and simmer for 5-7 minutes. While that is simmering cook your vegetables.

In a wok heat 1 tbsp coconut oil and stir fry your celery and capsicum for 1-2 minutes, add your bok choy and stirfry for a further 1-2 minutes, until it has wilted. Serve up the veg and top with 5 meatballs and spoon over the gravy then sprinkle over your cashew nuts/sesame seeds. You can serve with some coriander if you want.