One of the most requested dinners at our house are meatballs. This recipe is a combination of my mums meatballs as a kid and a recipe Yotem Ottolenghi made on one of his Cooking shows years ago. I take inspiration from all different tastes and flavours around me.

Meatballs tick all the boxes at our house and are devoured every time we have them.  These meatballs can be made with lamb, turkey, chicken or pork mince.

They are also really portable so perfect for lunch boxes, a picnic or straight out the fridge for a snack.

The meatballs can also be made into a double batch and frozen before cooking for a quick midweek dinner.

You can also grate 100g of haloumi into the mince mix if you like to add a cheesy element to the meatballs

LAMB MEATBALLS

500g lamb mince

1 large zucchini, grated or you can use carrot if you don’t have a zucchini in the fridge

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons mint

2 tablespoons parsley

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or finely diced chilli

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 shallot or small red onion, finely diced

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for frying

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C.  In a large bowl, mix together all the meatball ingredients .  Once evenly mixed, using a small ice cream scoop roll into walnut sized balls and place onto a tray lined with baking paper.  Makes roughly 18 mini meatballs.

Heat a large frypan that you can place in the oven with a tablespoon of grape seed oil.  Heat well and sear the meatballs in batches over a medium high heat on all sides.  Cook them for around 5 minutes until golden brown.

If you don’t have an oven proof pan place the meatballs onto a foil lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serve with tabouli, pitta bread, tzatziki, hummus.

QUINOA TABOULI

1 cup of cooked quinoa (method on how to cook below)

1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch of mint, finely chopped

1/2 bunch of mint, finely chopped

juice of half a lemon

2 medium tomatoes, seeds removed and finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

METHOD

Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together really well.

This will last in the fridge for at least a week.

HOW TO COOK QUINOA

I use the microwave to cook quinoa, it comes out perfect every time.

Place 1 cup of quinoa into a sieve and rinse throughly.  Place the rinsed quinoa into a microwave container and add in 2 cups of water.  Place into the microwave without a lid and cook on high for 10 minutes.  Once the 10 minutes is up, take the container carefully out of the microwave and place a lid on the top for 3 minutes until the remaining water has been absorbed.  After the 3 minutes is up, fluff the quinoa up with a fork.

This can also be stored in the fridge for a week to be made into all kinds of salads.

If you are looking for salad inspiration for the quinoa please check the links below:

LEFTOVER FRIDGE SALAD

MOROCCAN ROASTED VEGGIE BOWL

MIXED GRAIN SALAD WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES