Mediterranean Meatballs

For the past seven weeks I haven’t had time to cook anything new or blogworthy and as a result the blog has been completely neglected. So, it was a shock (although it shouldn’t have been) when I received my Secret Recipe Club assignment and I realized I was going to have to cook something new from another blog and somehow find time to write about it – all before 11 June.  Before I had the baby I hadn’t quite realized how little time there would be left for blogging and how full my brain would be of baby things that there would be almost no space left to think about food.  Although I would like to, I just don’t seem to be able to think about food any more so in some senses the SRC has been a good way of getting back into blogging as it has focused me on one blog, Thru the Bugs on my Windshield, and forced me to find a recipe I wanted to cook and then given me a deadline in which to do it.  Without it, I doubt I would be writing this right now and I wouldn’t have discovered a delicious new dish.  Thru the Bugs on my Windshield is written by Suzanne, who is the group B SRC host.  She does a fantastic job each month and has a wonderful blog with beautiful pictures as well.  Lots of her more recent posts are her own Secret Recipe Club assignments so I searched for a recipe that was her own and soon Mai’s Meatballs and Spaghetti Sauce stood out.  Mai is what Suzanne’s grandchildren call her and I can imagine they love this recipe.  I have to admit I made a few changes, mainly due to lack of time and organisation.  I didn’t have fresh parsley or dried basil so the herbs are not exactly the same and I used chorizo instead of hot Italian sausage. I also didn’t bother to properly convert the quantities into metric and so guessed all the amounts. Even so, I’m sure the result was fairly similar and it tasted fantastic. I loved the chorizo in the meatballs and the depth of flavour in the sauce.   Usually I am lazy and don’t cook my tomato sauces for as long as recipes state, but this time I did (well, longer than normal anyway) and I could tell that it really made a difference to the richness of the sauce.   As I made a few changes, have a look at Suzanne’s blog for the original recipe.   My version is below.

I am also linking this to Food of the Month Club hosted by Leslie of La Cocina de Leslie.  The food this month is ground (minced) beef.

Ingredients for Meatballs

300g minced beef

Approx 8cm chorizo, diced into small cubes

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 onion,finely diced

1/2 cup of breadcrumbs

1 egg, beaten

Generous grind of black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried parsley

Ingredients for Sauce

400g  can chopped tomatoes

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 onion,diced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

Black pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

100ml beef stock

2 bay leaves

Freshly grated parmesan (to serve)

How to Make Mediterranean Meatballs

1. First make the sauce.  Put a little olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion till softened.  Add the garlic.  Cook for a couple of minutes then add the tomatoes and all the other ingredients.  Simmer very gently for at least an hour.

2. To make the meatballs put all the ingredients into a bowl. Mix together with your hands and then form into meatballs.

3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan.  Add the meatballs.  Cook for five minutes then turn. Cook for another five minutes.

4. Transfer the meatballs to the tomato sauce. Stir so the sauce coats all the meatballs.  Continue to cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes. Serve with pasta and grated parmesan.

Click below to see what other SCR participants have made.

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