Mediterranean'ish Meatballs
How a simple baguette inspired a delish and easy meatball.
My neighbour and I have talked a lot lately about bread making. She’s been using my sourdough starter to resume her bread making routine from covid and as a chemical engineer, as well, has made lots of discoveries evolving her own learnings into the few recipes given to her by myself and other friends. Her life is busy between a career and motherhood yet she still makes bread. We’ve joked about the commitment required, it’s neediness recollecting the Tamagotchi craze of youth and the similarities. Perhaps that’s why sourdough is so popular, the maturing years of the Tamagotchi generations adopting a new ‘pet’ as it were. One thing has remained through all our problem solving conversations summed up in her last comment…. “I really love making bread.’ And I have to agree.
There’s something very grounding about bread making. The simple act of literally getting your hands dirty deep in sticky dough creating something deeply nourishing is like a magical energy that travels through your fingers and up your arms to your soul like an force of its own. The alchemy of a few simple ingredients mingling and maturing together over time taking a life of its own as it grows into the sum of its parts is something that never ceases to hold me in its thrall. Though often an overused word it really is very grounding. Meditation for cooks and bakers perhaps.
Waxing lyrical about the ritual of bread making may well seem like a strange way to start a post about meatballs but please indulge me my segue a moment.
Earlier this week I was at a loss for what to share with you. It was like a ‘what will I cook for dinner’ moment only with all of you as my audience rather that a small family. When those awaiting your decision on this most vexing of ongoing questions are your partner and kids you can go as low as throwing hands in the air, reverting to take away or leaning into old favourites. But when it’s a group of folks who like to see what your culinary creativity has come up with the question can be frustratingly puzzling. In a creative rut I reached for the most obvious of tools…..procratiscrolling. I’m clearly in touch with my inner teen. Sadly the doom scroll offered only that, doom and no answers, until this post landed on my small screen. I knew that making bread would offer me the answers, hands deep in sticky flour and water, watching the dough autolyse, absorbing the moisture the yeast taking on a life of its own marshalling the troops to grow and expand and strengthen ultimately resulting in a crusty baguette. Grounding.
So that was all fine and dandy but what was I going to do with it. Off to the fridge to see if inspiration sprung off the shelves at me where I was met with a tray of lamb mince. Moving a few things around digging deep in the crisper and an idea emerged. I really love meatballs and so do the family. There’s loads you can do with them and indeed loads you can hide in them when needed. They’re like the workhorse of family meals made with affordable minced meat and the ability to act as conduit for whichever flavour profile you want to enjoy and as I said whatever veg you want to use up.
I’m having a bit of a retro moment in my kitchen at the moment bringing back sundried tomatoes and thought a zucchini would go well here. I’ve leant into a handful of mediterranean flavours, (hopefully) done well. I’m easily distracted and these do have a few ingredients which without proper attention will burn in the frypan of a busy cook so I’ve cooked them in the oven. This makes them not only good for the, often rushed, end of the day family meal prep but also a good one to serve with drinks as a finger food. So whilst I’ve served them as a ‘sub’ these little flavours bombs will do that well and pivot to finger food or also sit atop a bowl of past or rice or even with a crisp green salad, and of course like many meatballs, are great for getting the kids in the kitchen helping.
****You, of course, don’t knead (see what I did there?) to make your own baguette if you’re not weird like me and find entertainment in such. A store or bakery bought baguette will be perfectly delicious too.
Ingredients:
1 small-medium zucchini grated
1 garlic clove crushed or grated
1 shallot or ½ small onion finely diced
15 gm parmesan cheese finely grated
¼ c chopped sundried tomatoes (choose ones jarred in oil not vinegar)
1 ½ tsp dried oregano leaves
500 gm lamb mince
1 egg
½ c panko style bread crumbs
Method:
Preheat oven to 200c (fan forced), line a large roasting dish with baking paper.
Combine all ingredients us in a large bowl and combine well with your hands. Squeeze your hands through all the ingredients massaging the ingredients together as you go. This activates the proteins and helps everything stick together and amalgamate effectively. Roll into small golf ball sized balls, roughly 40-50 gm each. You can do this ahead of time which is very handy for entertaining or meal prep.
Spread out evenly in the prepared roasting dish and generously drizzle over olive oil. Give the tray a little shake rolling the balls around and place tray in the oven. Cook 20 minutes stirring/turning at the half way mark. When cooked remove from oven and allow to sit in dish while you get everything else ready for 5-10 mins, they’ll be very hot and more enjoyable if the tempered has tempered a little.
***I like them with this little yoghurt based sauce either for dipping or in a sub***
Basil Gremolata Yogurt Sauce
½ c Greek yogurt
1 small handful of loosely packed fresh basil leaves
Grated rind of a small lemon
1 small garlic clove finely chopped.
Place the basil, lemon and garlic together in one little pile of your chopping board and chop with a sharp knife until finely chopped like you would for a gremolata, so it’s like a fresh sprinkle. Stir this through the yoghurt with a pinch of salt flakes to taste and refrigerate until required. It will improve on sitting so try and do this first.
Finds and Forays
I’m still old school in a lot ways. Whilst I read fiction on a kindle (don’t judge me) I still insist on cookbooks, non-fiction and magazines in hardcopy form. I also love seeing print survive in the form of indie publishers. So I was particularly excited for this new local mag to arrive in my letterbox. After years of an online publication which bloomed from a blog, creator Lucy Feagins has launched a print version. An ode to architecture old and new, design and aussie homes it’s a gorgeous magazine of the style that is beautiful to display on its own let alone on each of the pages. Published twice yearly and beautifully curated I can’t wait for the next one.
In the spirit of using up what’s in the fridge I’ve stored this croissant cake away for our next get together. It’s next level from my version from easter. I love her relaxed style and that it’s really more of an inspo and unrecipe as it were. Gets you thinking about other ways to use your bits and bobs that are lyng around.
Finally in a shameless plug for a local let me tell you where we’re headed for a drink this weekend. This gorgeous new bar has just opened and I’m so excited to try. Little sister of another local stalwart, she’s sexy and elegant and from all reports serving a brilliant array of innovative ‘snacks’ alongside superb cocktails and an excellent wine list. It’s just a short stroll from the train station so hop aboard and head to the sticks for a little adventure.
Until next week friends,
S x