Italian Meatballs and Sauce

My very first meatball! I love Italian food and somehow I've never made meatballs so I'm really excited about this dish especially since the recipe guinea pig said the sauce reminded him of his Mom's cooking. You must know how special it is when your man compares your food to his Mom's! I'm stoked!


As this was such a success I'd like to share this with Presto Pasta Night hosted this week by Aquadaze of Served with Love

(Feeds 6 people)
Meatballs:
3 tbsp olive oil
500g lamb mince
500g beef mince
2 eggs (beaten)
3 slices of bread
Handful of fresh basil (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1/2 cup Parmesan

Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cans peeled plum tomatoes
2 small can tomato paste
1/4 cup water
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 large handful of fresh basil (chopped)
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp celery salt
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Blend tomatoes in a food processor
- Cook onions and garlic in a large pot with olive oil until onions start to turn clear. Add tomatoes, vinegar, water, cinnamon, celery salt, dried oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
- Wet bread slices with some water, then gently press bread to rinse out the water
- Put the mince meats in a large bowl with the basil, oregano, breadcrumbs, garlic, egg and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Work all ingredients together with your hands until evenly mixed. Shape mixture into golf size balls and set aside for a few minutes
- Cook meatballs in a pan with olive oil. Cook them evenly around all sides. You'll only manage to cook meatballs in the pan in batches at a time so as each one is done place them into the tomato sauce (you should get about 20 meatballs, give or take)
- Leave sauce and meatballs on simmer for 45 minutes

I served this with penne. Or you could served with a side of steamed green beans. Traditionally, Italian meatballs and tomato sauce is not serves with pasta (especially not spaghetti. Does anyone else out there find meatballs awkward to eat with long noodles like I do?)

This is a great meal to make in large amounts because it freezes well. Excellent for those days when you won't have time to cook a meal from scratch

Lebanese Lamb Pies with Meze

I love foods from Arabic countries. The freshness and rustic tastes. I was recently watching a Travel Food Show taking place in Lebanon and had the strongest craving for those flavours. So I put together a Meze, the focus dish being Lebanese lamb pies.


I'd never worked with phyllo pastry and it became obvious to me why many people are afraid to...it really does take practice. The pastry didn't end up being super flaky and fluffy once cooked because I missed a step and tried to fold them differently (whoops!) but the pies still tasted delicious! I will try the phyllo pastry again sometime because I do like the challenge of trying to get it right but next time I will try using the simpler puff pastry to compare.

If you are going to use phyllo pastry pay close attention, don't miss any instructions like I did, and probably best not to experiment if not experienced already ;)

(Makes 12 small pies)
250g ground lamb
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts (pan roasted with a little olive oil)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mixed spice
ground pepper to taste
fine zest from a whole lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp flour ( I used bisto)

12 sheets ready made phyllo (filo) pastry
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup salted butter, melted
6 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions:
Pie Filling:
- Cook lamb in a pan with olive, then add onion and all other ingredients (except for pine nuts). Cook further until onions turn transparent. Add water and flour (or bisto), stir and allow to thicken a little (about 1 minute)
- Stir in pine nuts and remove mix from the heat

- Preheat oven to gas mark 6 (400 F)
- Mix the butter and oil and keep to one side.
- Make sure to keep pastry sheets which you are not working with covered at all times with a slightly damp towel (phyllo dries very quickly)
- Lay out a sheet of filo pastry on a clean work surface and cut into three-inch strips lengthwise.
- Using a large soup spoon, place a dollop of the lamb mixture at the top right-hand corner of the filo strip. Take the top right-hand corner and fold over the pumpkin mixture to the left. The strip should now have the beginnings of a triangle, with the peak at the upper left-hand corner. Continue folding the strip in the shape of a triangle, brushing the filo pastry with butter+oil mixture before each fold. Once you've reached the end of the strip, place on the baking sheet and brush with beaten egg.
- Continue until all the pumpkin mixture has been used, making about 15 triangles.
- Bake for approximately 30 mins, or until the filo is crispy and a dark golden brown.

I served this with some naan bread (I had some in the freezer so thought it would work as a replacement for flatbread), olives, humus, yoghurt and cucumber dip, and salad. Delish Meze!