Lamb Meatballs with Chickpea and Potato Mash and Tomato Sauce

Finally, finally, finally, a meal to get me out of the blogging doldrums!

You see it's not so much that I haven't been cooking, it's just that the meals that I have been cooking haven't really been up to blogging standard.

There was the home made ravioli that still needs a little tweaking.  We won't even mention the mozzarella that lived it's days under the aspersion that it was ricotta!  Then there was the sad, sad pork belly that just did not pass muster.  I was so pinning all my hopes on that one too!  It was a Maggie Beer recipe that I diligently copied to my phone as I sat at the chiropractor's office last week.  That one held so much promise, I mean when does pork belly ever go wrong?  When you are hoping to use it as a comeback recipe that's when!  I don't know what went wrong with that one, but to me it seemed like it needed at least another 3 hours of cooking (that would be 6 in total!).  It did redeem itself though as a comeback queen in the next night's pizza topping!  I did, however, make a pasta all'amatriciana that was good, but I forgot to take a photo of it!

So when last night's dinner had a resounding Yum! I thought I just better get straight onto it, and blog about it!

 Lamb Meatballs with Chickpea and Potato Mash and Tomato Sauce

Adapted from recipe found in MasterChef Magazine, June edition 

Serves 4-6

Meatballs 

1.2 kg lamb mince
6 shallots (green onions) finely chopped
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves, finely chopped
1 cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g feta cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl, and with your hands mix well.  Roll into golf ball size meatballs, and place on a tray.  Cover and allow to sit in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.

When ready to cook place on baking dish, and bake at 200 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, or until golden, and cooked through.  Make sure you turn at least once during cooking.

Now to start on the mash....

Chickpea Potato Mash 

 kg potatoes, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces
4 cloves garlic
400g can chickpeas
1-2 tbs sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Drain the chickpeas, leaving a small amount of liquid with them.  Place the potatoes, chickpeas and garlic into a large saucepan of salted water.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.  Drain.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher (or fork).  Add the sour cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Don't add too much sour cream, you don't want the mixture too sloppy!

While the potatoes are cooking, it's time to get onto the tomato sauce....

Tomato Sauce 

1 red onion, finely chopped
400g can of diced tomatoes
4 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the onion in a medium sized saucepan with a little olive oil.  Sauté gently for 5 minutes, or until softened, and starting to turn golden.  Add the chicken stock, and bring to the boil.  Simmer until reduced slightly.

Add the canned and fresh tomatoes, and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until thickened slightly.

Add balsamic vinegar, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Place the mash on the bottom of a serving dish.  Top with the meatballs, then top with the tomato sauce.

As a friend of mine would say "Yumbo Scrumbo!"

And so now I am back in the game!  Let's see if I can continue!

OK, so I must apologise with the photos - I am using my iphone (yeah I know!!)  I will get back into the swing of things here I promise!!!

Just to keep me honest - tonights dinner is Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu - stay tuned if it's a success I will post (fingers crossed!)

Baked Greek Lamb Meatballs & Surprise Soup!

Yesterday was full of (culinary) surprises for me.

The first one was the meal I cooked for dinner last night.  As usual, I got suckered in by the nice photos - there was this lovely shot of a tray of baked meatballs resplendent with cherry tomatoes and zucchini and crumbled feta cheese - well of course I knew mine would never look that way (especially when I forgot to add the feta!!!).  What hooked me in though, was that it was a one dish meal - the components all looked good (albiet I knew "The Darlings" wouldn't eat the vegetable part).  What didn't gel however, was how I was going to actually serve this - and did it need anything to go with it?  This all came together as the day progressed, and meal time became closer.

The first thing I thought it needed was some bread - after deliberation I decided some lebanese bread would be good.  Then I thought that perhaps the addition of a dip of some kind - perhaps herb and garlic!

OK the basis was taking shape.

This is how the afternoon in my kitchen progressed

First thing I made was the dip.

Herb and Garlic Dip
Adapted From EDC Thermomix Cookbook

small bunch of flat leaf parsley
1 small glove of garlic
1 shallot (green onion)
1/2 bunch chives
250g light cream cheese
small amount of reduced fat cream

Place the parsley, chives, shallot and garlic into the TM bowl.  Chop for 5 seconds on speed 7.  Scrape down bowl and repeat if necessary.

Add the cream cheese.  Mix for 20 seconds on speed 4 - add small amount of cream until desired consistency is achieved.

There you have it - dip in around 25 seconds!!!

Now onto the surprise soup!

I am not going to give you the recipe because I am not sure I could replicate it again - but I ust wanted to let you know what a wonderful flavour I achieved - accidentally!!

I had a pretty busy day yesterday so I took the incredibly easy way out of making some soup for "The boy who will never be filled" for his school lunches.  Rather than peel a pumpkin (you know how hard that can be at times) I decided to place the whole piece of pumpkin in the oven and bake it.  So onto a baking sheet went 1/2 a pumpkin (minus the seeds).  I sprayed it with garlic infused olive oil spray and baked it at 200 degrees for around an hour.  It came out all lovely and golden.  I let it rest on the kitchen bench all afternoon until I was ready for it.

Then came the next part - what was I going to add???  I was sure I had some red lentils in the cupboard - but no, I seemed to have used them all - have some black - that will have to do.

Fry up a little onion and garlic in the TM - then added around 2 cups of chicken stock, brought it to the boil and added the black lentils.  Cooked them (but not probably enough - but was running out of time - that will have to do!).   Added the cooked pumpkin to the pot, then added a can of coconut evaporated milk

Then a little curry powder, ground coriander and some cumin.  Blended it all together.  I had a little mashed potato left over from the previous night's dinner - so decided why not add that to the pot too!!  A little too thick - so added a bit of milk.  Soup finished now!!!

The result - well the lentils were not entirely cooked through so they added a nice textural component to the creamy soup - but the biggest surprise was the flavour!!!!  I swear if you were blindfolded you would have thought you were eating peanut butter soup!!!!

I must say I was pretty impressed with the flavour - wonder if I can do it again though???  The combination of the coconut evaporated milk and the roasted pumpkin lifted boring old pumpkin soup to a new level!!!!

OK so the soup is now done - on to dinner....

Baked Greek Lamb Meatballs
Adapted From Good Food Magazine June edition

Serves 6

1kg lamb mince *
3 slices of bread, made into breadcrumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion
1/3 cup chopped mint (around 1/2 a bunch)
4 large potatoes, cut into wedges
4 zucchini, cut into batons
300-400g cherry tomatoes
60g feta cheese, crumbled **

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  Lightly grease a large baking tray.

Place the mince, breadcrumbs, onion and egg, and mint in a large bowl.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Mix well (or you can place it in the TM and using the knead function knead the mixture for 2 minutes until combined!!) Using your hands shape into meatballs.  Place in the prepared pan.

Place the potato, zucchini and cherry tomatoes around the meatballs.  Spray with garlic infused olive oil.

Bake for 40-60 minutes.  Turning the potatoes, so that they brown evenly.

Season the potatoes with sea salt.  Scatter with feta cheese.

* the recipe says 250g lamb mince for 4 people (making 8 meatballs - there was no way that was going to cut it with my crowd - so I increased it to 1kg)

** oops I forgot - the feta is still resting nicely in the fridge!!!

The reason that there is no "plating up" photo is that even as I got this dish out of the oven I had no idea how I was going to serve it.  I simply ended up throwing it all onto a large platter so that everyone could help themselves!!!  And help themselves they did!!!

The nice surprise about this dish was the wonderful flavours - Mr. CCC remarked how lovely and fresh it all seemed.  "The Darlings" made theirs into "kebab" type rolls!!  All were happy (and fed!)

And so ends another night in our kitchen!

So Dear Readers what surprises (good and bad) have you had in the kitchen lately?  Is your kitchen a hive of activity like mine come late afternoon???  Do tell!!

Asian Style Meatballs with Rice Noodles

It seems that I am on a bit of a roll at the moment, in more ways than one!  (no pun intended!!)

I was stuck for a dinner idea this week, I remembered how well the Italian Style Meatballs went down the night before, so I decided to make an Asian version, but instead of using pasta, using rice noodles.  "The Darlings" love Chinese Spag Bol - so let's just use the same basic ingredients and turn it into a meatballs dish.

One thing I learnt while mincing the chicken for the meatballs in the Thermomix is that different meats mince differently.  The breast meat minced very easily - the thigh meat however, took a little longer, I guess because of more sinew or something.  Not sure - but if you are mincing your own meat - be aware of this.  I wanted to add some thigh meat for the little bit of extra fat - meatballs can be quite dry with absolutely no fat in them - also I think thigh meat has a little more flavour.

Asian Style Meatballs with Rice Noodles

Serves 6


1 x red onion
4 cloves garlic
5cm piece ginger
100g fresh breadcrumbs
2tbs dark soy sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
500g chicken breast fillets
500g chicken thigh fillets
1/2 cup hoi sin sauce
1/2 cup Shaoxing Cooking Wine
1kg fresh rice noodles
300g endamame beans
1 tbs sesame oil
2 green shallots, finely sliced

Place the bread into the TM bowl, process for 10 seconds on speed 8.  Remove from the TM bowl and place in a bowl.

Add the onion, garlic and ginger to the TM bowl, process for 3 seconds on speed 7, scrape down bowl, and repeat until chopped to desired size.  Remove and place with the breadcrumbs.

Mince the chicken in 200-300g lots by processing for 15 seconds on speed 7.  Repeat until all meat has been minced.

Place the breadcrumbs, chopped onion mixture, and all the chicken mince back in the TM bowl.  Add the beaten egg, and the dark soy sauce.  Place lid on TM - put in the closed lid position and process on interval speed for 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture is well combined.

Taking small spoonfuls, and with wet hands, roll the meat into walnut sized meatballs.  Place on a foil lined tray.  Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large frypan over medium heat.  Cook meatballs for approximately 5 minutes, turning often, or until cooked through.

Steam the endamame beans for 5 minutes, or until cooked through.

Pierce the bag of rice noodles with a knife, and place in the microwave for approximately 5 minutes, or until warmed through.

Return all the meatballs to the pan, and the sesame oil, hoi sin sauce and cooking wine.  Add the warmed up rice noodles, chopped up green shallots, and 1/2 cup of water.  Combine well, adding more liquid if needed.

Serve topped with endamame beans. (No, of course "The Darlings" didn't eat those - don't be silly - they are green!!!  The "Fussy Darling" even picked out the shallots!)

The verdict - "The Meatballs Darling" was in raptures again!!!  The way I see it - it was ostensibly the same meal two nights in a row - but with different flavours - nothing wrong with that in my books!!  It all got eaten - that is the main thing.

So tell me Dear Readers if you find a winner - do you repeat often, but perhaps with slight variations??

Italian Pork Meatballs

When is a sausage not a sausage? When you turn it into something that both you and the kids love!!! I saw this recipe in the current edition of Delicious Magazine - and knew straight away that it would be a winner with "The Darlings".  Of course I have "tweaked" it a little - as I usually do!!!  Here is what we ended up with!

Italian Pork Meatballs
Adapted from Delicious Magazine - March Edition

Serves 6


1kg Pork, Sage and Onion Sausages
2 tbs each oregano and rosemary
120g fresh breadcrumbs
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 x 700g bottles passata
red wine
2-3 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs TM vegetable stock concentrate
500g dried spaghetti
handful of fresh basil, chopped

Parmesan and crumbled fetta to serve

Place the breadcrumbs in the Thermomix bowl - process for 10 seconds on speed 8.  Place in a bowl.  To the TM bowl add the onion, garlic, oregano and rosemary, process fro 3 seconds on speed 7, scrape down bowl and repeat until processed to your liking.  Squeeze the meat from the sausages into the TM bowl along with the chopped herbs/onion.  Add the breadcrumbs and process on Interval speed, closed lid position, for 2 minutes.

Taking small spoonfuls, make meatballs approximately the size of walnuts.  Allow to sit for 20 minutes in the fridge to firm up.

Heat a frypan to medium high heat, and brown the meatballs in batches, until they are slightly golden.

Place in a large saucepan, add the passata (now here is what I did - I added a good slug of red wine to the passata bottle to ensure I got it all from the bottle - so this is not an exact science!!)  Add the tomato paste, and the stock concentrate.  Season with salt and pepper, and  basil. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.  In the meantime cook your pasta, drain well.

Add the cooked pasta to the meatballs and sauce.

Serve with crumbled fetta, and or grated parmesan cheese.

One of "The Darlings" said to me "Mum, this is the best meal ever - Only one thing would have made it better - your garlic bread!!  (Sorry, didn't have time for that today - perhaps next time!!!) Music to my ears!!!

So the humble sausage had a makeover, and turned itself into a family friendly Italian Meatballs dish that had everyone coming back for seconds!!!

Spaghetti and Meatballs in the Thermomix

While last night's meal was not particularly gourmet or spectacular I thought I would tell you about it anyway, just to show you how versatile the Thermomix is.

Those of you that live in Sydney will have suffered along with me in the sweltering summer heat yesterday.  At my house it was 42 degrees C at 5 pm (for those of you in the U.S that is over 107 degrees F!!!)  It was HOT!!!!  So I got to thinking what can I make for dinner that is not going to have me slaving away over a hot stove (and much and all as I would like a salad - "The Darlings" ain't never going to go for it - so I will have to cook for them anyway!)  Also we had afternoon sport (oh what joy, now that school is back!!!)

So..... I decided to experiment a little with my "toy" and see how I could "multi task" with the Thermomix and make my life a little simpler/cooler.

My meatball recipe was pretty simple

Meatballs
Serves 5-6

500g lean pork mince
500g chicken breast mince
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 onion, finely diced
1 tbs dried basil leaves
1 tbs dried oregano leaves
1 tbs vegetable stock concentrate
freshly ground black pepper

Place the onion and garlic in the TM bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 7.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Chop again if necessary.

Add the minces and seasonings.  This is where I experimented - I used the "knead" function of the TM to combine the mixture - I "kneaded" the mixture for approximately 1 1/2 minutes until all the ingredients were combined.  Perfect - meant I didn't have to get my hands in there!!!

Next I just took small spoonfuls of the mixture and rolled them into balls (I know I still had to get a little dirty!!).  I placed the meatballs on the two levels of the varoma (the tray and the receptacle).  Then put them in the fridge while I got the sauce going.

Now onto the sauce.  I basically used the recipe from the Everyday Cooking for Every Family Cookbook - but made a couple of changes.

Tomato Sauce

1 kg fresh ripe tomatoes
1/2 red capsicum
35g olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch fresh basil
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs vegetable stock concentrate

Place all the ingredients in the TM bowl and pulverise for 1 minute on speed 10.  Make sure that all the ingredients are fully pulverised - repeat if necessary.

Cook for 30 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed soft.  Make sure you leave the measuring cup at an angle to prevent too much "spitting" of the sauce.

After 30 minutes, scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Place the varoma with the meatballs on top, and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes.  Place the meatballs and sauce into your thermoserver (it keeps things hot or cool - kind of like a thermos!!)

Rinse out your TM bowl.

Now place water into the the TM bowl (approx 1200g), add a little salt.  Cook for 14 minutes at 100C on speed 1.

Add your required amount of pasta, then cook for an additional 8-10 minutes at 100 degrees on Reverse and speed soft.

Drain, and serve with the meatballs!!!

As I said, nothing fancy or exotic - but look how easy it all was using the Thermomix!!!  No slaving over the stove stirring - Thermie did all the hard work for me!!!

Washing up was a breeze - the TM is so easy to clean.  I should know I had used it several times already yesterday afternoon to make homemade peanut butter and nuttella.  I don't know what I did before I had my little "buddy" to help me in the kitchen!!!

So Dear Readers how did you survive the heat yesterday???  Better batten down the hatches - it's going to be a scorcher again today - what is this day three or day four??  I have lost count - the brain is fried!!!

Keep Cool Dear Readers!!!

Mexican Meatballs with Rice Salad

While last night's meal was by no means a gourmet affair - it was easy, colourful and tasty.

I was at a bit of a loose end as to what to make last night, and was walking the supermarket aisles waiting for something to call out to me - "make me, make me" - but alas that didn't happen!!  (I guess I have to explain - I had been wandering aimlessly around the shopping centre for several hours already doing the last of the Christmas Shopping - and enjoying my last day of freedom before all "the Darlings" are on school holiday - hence the stupor-like state I was in!!)

I vaguely remembered a recipe that I had seen in the Christmas edition of Super Food Ideas that was for meatballs on skewers with a rice salad - I was in no mood to deal with skewers, and I couldn't remember exactly what was in the recipe - so winging it - here is what I came up with.

Mexican Meatballs with Rice Salad


Serves 6

1kg lean beef mince
500g beef sausage mince
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 x 35g pkt taco seasoning

Place all the above ingredients in a large bowl - get your hands in and get dirty, and mix well!!!

Line a baking tray with foil.  Preheat oven to 180C.

Makes small "walnut" sized meatballs - place on the prepared tray.  Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes to ensure even browning.  Makes Approximately 80 meatballs.

Rice Salad

1 1/2 cup white rice
400g can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
130g can corn kernels, drained
2 tbs coriander, finely chopped
1/2 punnet of cherry tomatoes, quartered
juice of 1/2 lime

Cook rice according to directions on pack.  When cooked add the kidney beans, corn, coriander, tomatoes, and lime juice.  Mix well.

To Serve

sour cream
avocado
salsa
corn chips

Serve the rice topped with meatballs.  Garnish with avocado, sour cream, salsa and crushed corn chips.

So while the meatballs baked in the oven, and the rice cooked in the microwave, I bravely traversed the beans in our lounge room to hang the last of the Christmas lights.  I know should be feeling more merry - I don't know what it is - perhaps now that the house is festooned with lights the spirit will grow!!!

So Dear Readers are you ready for Christmas?  I still have the Christmas Eve job of wrapping all the presents to go - I think I am done shopping - but I always take one last peek, and then think I haven't bought enough and ...... yes go buy more!!!

Middle Eastern Style Meatballs

First of all I have to say thank you to those that commented on my last post about not reading a recipe properly before commencing  -  I AM NOT ALONE!!!!  YEA!!!!

Much is the same with this recipe.  I saw a recipe in recent Super Food Ideas - it was for Lamb Kofta - I modified a few ingredients - and didn't even read the method!  I wanted to make meatballs - we have had too many skewerey things lately!!!

So for all you Dear Readers that don't like reading methods I will try and make this short and sweet!!!

Middle Eastern Style Meatballs


Makes approx 72 meatballs

1 kg lamb mince
500g beef sausage mince
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1 tbs chopped fresh mint
1 tbs chopped fresh flat leaf parsely
2 tsp hungarian paprika
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander

Place all ingredients in a large bowl - get in there with your hands and mix well!!

Line a baking tray with foil.  Roll the meatball mixture into golf ball size meatballs.  Place on a baking tray that has been lined with foil.

Place in the fridge for 20 minutes, to firm up.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Bake the meatballs for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through and golden.  Make sure to turn halfway through cooking.

I really like baking my meatballs - apart from the fact it is way easier - I always tend to break them up when I pan fry them.  This way - they always turn out perfectly.

So what did I do with these meatballs?  I turned them into kebabs!!!

I was feeling a tad lazy so I bought some tabbouleh.  While I was making the meatballs I chopped extra mint and parsley - added this to the tabbouleh, then added a little more diced tomato - and voila - tabbouleh that looked homemade!

What we did was melt a little cheese onto a lebanese bread round, top with the meatballs, then add to your own liking - hommus, sour cream, avocado, tabbouleh and hot sauce.  A very easy dinner indeed!

Now I hear you saying - she made something like 72 meatballs - what happened to all the rest???

There was method to my madness!  I wanted to have extra so that I could put them in the freezer for later, and then turn them into a pizza topping on our next pizza night!!

They will either feature as a Middle Eastern Style Pizza or they may become part of a Meatlovers Pizza!!!

So Dear Readers do you often make extra of something, so that you can freeze it for later, to turn into something else??