One Pot Meatball Risoni

A creamy delicious dinner win for the whole family

I’ve discovered the Empty Nester’s version of being a kid at Christmas. I’m counting down the days to when the boys and their girls return. We’ve been lucky this year to visit one and enjoy a visit from the other but still we miss them. So I’m counting down the days to the two days on which my two best gifts will arrive, boy 1 and boy 2.

We can’t wait to spend time with them, casual moments, the unplanned kind just relaxing and hanging out together. It’s their absence that reminds you it’s moments that just happen that are the most important and treasured. Sitting around the kitchen bench enjoying a coffee, laughing at a tv show together, hearing about their day and just the simple joy of sharing a meal together.

In preparing for this visit I’ve not only been considering their favourite meals but also trying to come up with some quick and easy dinners. Not only quick to prepare but easy to wash up and get back to what actually matters. Hello one pot wonders.

In thinking about meals like that I’m pulled back to their childhood. Two little boys bouncing around the kitchen “soooo hungry,’ asking what’s for dinner. Sometimes delighted by the answer like when it was spaghetti or chicken other times disappointed, but not too often. One pan wonders, as they’re often called were an important weapon in my parenting arsenal. They were generally budget friendly using chicken or mince. One pan dinners often required minimal preparation before being popped in the oven or left on the stove to simmer so you could help with homework or run kids to sport and activities and most importantly left you, or whoever was on duty for dishes that night, minimal work in clean up. And of course, that one thing money can’t buy, time.

So again, I’m leaning in. Leaning into skills hard won as a younger mum and lessons learned and remembering what counts.

Aside from all the usual Christmas cooking and baking preparing treats to be offered as gifts and some usual favourites for xmas feasts I’ve been practicing their favourites. There’s nothing like the comfort foods of home your mum makes, the ones you can’t quite nail as well as she does and those that speak to home and comfort. But I’ve also been trying to come up with some new ideas that won’t tie me to the kitchen. Recipes that I can throw together, that will fill hungry tummies and most importantly leave me time. Time to soak up their company, no helping with homework or mum’s taxi to be seen.

Knowing they love pasta and meatballs I wondered what other ways I could combine the two in a new way from the norm. We love bowl food as we call it. A meal I can throw together and everyone can serve themselves, perhaps seated outside in the waning sunlight on warm nights to the chorus of cicadas and kookaburras.

So here I give you a one pot past and meatball dish, a little different from what comes to mind but one that literally is also served in one pot including the salad (Lucy Tweed Inspo right there) with minimal fuss and effort. A perfect summer holidays dish.

Ingredients:

500 gm beef mince (or whichever is your favourite, any kind will work)

25gm finely grated parmesan

1 egg

1 Tb dried oregano leaves

½ cup breadcrumbs

½ tsp salt flakes

2 Tb olive oil

1 onion finely diced

2 garlic cloves crushed or finely grated

20 gm butter

3 cups chicken stock (made from cubes or powder is fine)

½ cup cream

300 gm risoni/orzo

1-2 Tb pesto, to taste (store is bought fine)

300 gm of risoni

1/3 cup sundried tomatoes chopped

20 gm finely grated parmesan reggiano

Extra finely grated parmesan reggiano

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

In a large bowl, combine beef mince, egg, parmesan, breadcrumbs, salt and oregano. Using your hands squeeze ingredients repeatedly to combine well. Roll tablespoons full of mixture (roughly 30gm each) into meatballs and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy based ovenproof pan over a medium heat. Add meatballs to pan and turn frequently to brown the outside of them, they won’t be cooked through. Remove and keep warm on a plate covered with foil. Wipe the pan out with paper towel to remove in small bits of debris, it doesn’t need to be clean. Add the remaining oil and warm. Tip onion and garlic into the pan, reduce heat to low and cook gently until translucent stirring frequently, around 5 minutes. Pop the butter in the pan to melt then rain in the risoni. Stir well to coat the pasta in the butter as you would for a risotto. Stir through the pesto again to distribute it through the risoni. Now pour in the stock, parmesan and cream, stir through until evenly distributed. Sprinkle in the sundried tomatoes and bring the mixture up to a simmer. Returning the meatballs to the pan, evenly spacing them throughout the mixture, sprinkle over another handful of finely grated parmesan and carefully pop pan in the oven uncovered for 15 mins. Remove and allow to stand for a few minutes while you call everyone to the table.

I like to serve as photographed with some greens and fresh toms sprinkled over the top and lightly dressed with a fruity olive oil. One pot, no salad bowl, lots of delicious.

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Finds and Forays

One pot dinners have featured frequently this week even though it’s just the two of us. You see I’ve been lost in the latest Sarah Barrie novel Endgame. It’s the final book in the four-part Lexi Winter series and probably the most satisfying conclusion novel to a series I’ve ever read. Now, I wouldn’t normally suggest such a book given this type of book is best enjoyed after reading its preceding volumes but in this case I’m suggesting the whole four. Sarah is perhaps one of my all-time favourite Australian authors. Her ability to strap you into a metaphorical roller coaster hit go and take you on such a compelling ride as she does is unsurpassed. All her books are impossible to put down with unexpected twists and turns and characters for whom you’re immediately invested. I read this one in two days (I’m a bit tired now) so all four tucked away for the summer holidays sounds like a perfect holiday activity to me, or perhaps even a good gift suggestion for book lovers.

In this week’s gift suggestion, I saw these handmade beauties from country NSW recently. I love the idea of a young person clutching their treasured passport wrapped in beautiful Australian leather wrapped embarking on big adventures. A nice stocking stuffer or perhaps secret santa for a niece or nephew or special young adult setting off into the world.

On the subject of gifts these little caramel jewels look like a beautiful little homemade gift idea. The recipe makes loads and I think would look beautiful in decorated jars. Imagine how chuffed someone would be to receive homemade treasures like that. Maybe a fun project for teens on school holidays or a family project to create some easy gifts.

Ok I need to go and start preparing for a Christmas get together at our house this weekend and find time to take advantage of the sales and do some Christmas shopping. Have a lovely weekend friends,

S x