Taste test : veal meatballs -v- lamb meatballs

Veal meatballs right, Lamb meatballs left

In the package of veal that Farmers Choice sent to me, was a small packet of veal mince.  Now I'd been pondering over what to do with this.  It wasn't enough to use for an entire meal for the family, but I didn't want to dilute it by adding another type of mince - I wanted to sample the flavour and texture unsullied by outside influence.

Then, the obvious answer struck me.  No, not burgers (which I admit was my first thought), but meatballs.  How about I find a generic kind of meatball recipe that would suit the veal as well as another meat - and do a direct taste test comparison.

So that's what I did.

Close enough for you?  lol  Veal meatballs

I found a recipe on BBC Good Food, for Greek style lamb meatballs with tzatziki, that used just grated onion, garlic, lemon zest, mint and cinnamon in the meatballs.  All of these ingredients would go very well with the veal, I thought - so that's what I did.

I kept the two minced meats apart and put exactly the same amount of flavour ingredients into each, mixed them both by hand (washing my hands in between types) and rolled them up.

On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is poor and 10 is excellent, the lamb rated a 10 for rollability (i.e. forming a meatball without crumbling or otherwise breaking) and the veal a 9.  The veal was just slightly lighter in texture and much leaner.  Without the fat content, the meatball was slightly harder to get to stick together - but unless you were comparing the two, I doubt you'd notice.  It certainly wasn't a problem at all.

Veal meatballs

I cooked the veal meatballs first, so that they went into a clean pan.  This avoided any contamination from the lamb, which is a much stronger flavour.  The two types of meatball were identical where the cooking was concerned, as both held together perfectly and both achieved a nice colour in roughly the same time scale.

This recipe used just plain meatballs without a covering sauce.  I didn't want anything to affect the flavour of the veal, you see.

Once cooked, the two types of meatball were almost identical.  The veal had a very slightly darker colouration to the lamb, which I put down to the structure of the meat.  The veal meatballs had much less fat involved in the mince, which meant that the majority of the meat in contact with the heat of the pan was veal, as opposed to the fat in the lamb meatball.

Where flavour is concerned, the veal scored as best in both hubby's and son & heir's opinions, but I just couldn't get past my love of lamb, I'm afraid.

Don't get me wrong, however, because I really liked the veal meatballs.  Without the influence of the lamb to compare it against, I'd have been as happy as Larry with the veal.  I can't help being true to my love of lamb.

It was very interesting to have the context of the lamb to compare the veal against.  Most of us have sampled lamb at some point of another and know how lamb tastes.  Veal, however, is a different matter as it's not a meat that has been readily available.  The veal meatballs were lighter in flavour to the lamb.  For all that, though, they weren't one-dimensional, in that the veal very definitely had a mild, gentle beef flavour - but it truly is a unique flavour.  Veal doesn't taste like anything else, except veal.  All of which doesn't really help you if you've come here to try and decide whether you might like it.  In my opinion, if you like beef and you like pork, then without a doubt you'll like veal.

It is my hope that, if bloggers and the like continue to promote the consumption of British Rose Veal, that eventually (it may take some time!) the consumer will pick up the idea and demand for British Rose Veal will grow.  This will, in turn, make it possible for the millions of bull calves who are currently shot at birth, to be raised for veal in the humane and ethical conditions that are in force in the U.K.  Don't be tempted to spend a fortune on veal from the continent, as by doing so you may well be supporting the use of the barbaric veal crate system of raising veal calves and not buying the best product.  British Rose Veal is so much nicer than meat that has been produced in such a high stress environment.  You would think that the way an animal has been kept wouldn't be directly attributable to the quality of the end meat product - but believe me, it is.  Do a quick search online for farms in your local area that produce and sell veal direct from the farm, to cut out the middle man who always puts his percentage on top and you'll be getting veal in the most economic way possible.  It's not cheap at the moment, but is very well worth the cost.

GREEK STYLE VEAL MEATBALLS WITH TZATZIKI    (serves 3)

Ingredients :

500g minced veal (or lamb, or beef, or any combination)
half a red onion, grated
half a garlic clove, grated
half a lemon, zested
half a small bunch of mint, chopped gently
half a tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil.

For the Tzatziki :

150ml plain Greek yoghurt
3cm chunk of cucumber, skinned, deseeded and diced
half a sharp apple like a Braeburn, cored, sliced and cut into matchsticks
half a small bunch of mint, chopped gently
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Method :

1.  Put the mince, grated onion, garlic, lemon zest, mint and cinnamon into a bowl.  If using different meats, use different bowls for each and divide the other ingredients equally between them.

2.  Season very well, then use your hands to mix the ingredients until distributed evenly.

3.  Using wet hands, roll individual meatballs about the size of a walnut and set aside.

4.  To make the Tzatziki, combine all the ingredients with some seasoning to taste and mix well.  Refrigerate until serving.

5.   Place the oil into a frying pan and heat until a meatball, when placed into the pan, lightly sizzles upon contact - but don't overheat or the meatballs will burn on the outside before the inside can have cooked sufficiently.

6.  Fry until the meatballs are well coloured and cooked through.  Place onto a plate covered with kitchen paper and keep warm until serving.

I served my meatballs with the Ottolenghi's Green couscous.

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Curried Pasta Salad

Once upon a time, we used to eat quite a bit of pasta salad.  I do think, though, that we overdid it, as the very thought of a pasta salad has everyone groaning in that "oh gawd, not again!" kind of way - me included.

However, just recently, my tastebuds have been tickled by the idea of some pasta salads - mostly the type that have some twist or edge to them and aren't made with just mayonnaise.  My tolerance for high fat dishes has significantly reduced in the last few years, in direct correlation to how my waistline has disappeared, it would seem.

I remember last summer (remember summer?  You know, sunshine, barbecues, long tall glasses of cool citrus drinks?  I agree - it's difficult to recall when the rain is coming horizontally across the garden) when we had a barbecue and I made a pasta salad to go with the barbecued meats.  I ate some and we wound up throwing the rest away after two days of it sitting in the fridge.

As such, you might understand my nervousness at serving up this pasta salad.

However, it was a resounding success.  The big difference lies in the greek yoghurt that cuts through the richness of the mayonnaise, along with the curry flavours, sharpness of the apple and sweetness of the mango chutney.

As son & heir commented - it's a bit like a pasta salad version of Coronation Chicken, which is one of his favourite things to do to some leftover roast chicken.  In fact, if you were looking to make a more main course of this salad, just add in some cold roast chicken!

We had ours with some roasted pork chops and halved Tomkin tomatoes and it went down very nicely indeed.  Incidentally, if you ever come across the Tomkin tomatoes do give them a go, as they were deliciously sweet and juicy.

The recipe (from BBC Good Food Magazine) called for celery, but I didn't have any celery on hand at the time and the shops didn't have any either.  Apparently the dire "summer" we're having of torrential rain is causing havoc amongst the vegetable growers and loads of celery is just dying in the fields.  I did have a Braeburn apple, however, and cut that into matchsticks to use instead.  Next time, I'd definitely include the apple along with the celery as it gave a lovely piquancy and welcome juiciness to the mix.


We had a little left over that I didn't get to until a day and a half later, but it was just as good.  As such, it'd be a great salad to make in advance of a barbecue or pot luck buffet.  The apple didn't leak juice and the whole thing was, if anything, better for having sat for a while allowing the flavours to marry up nicely.


I won't push my luck and have this again too soon - but I will do it again and if you're going through a pasta salad liking phase, I would recommend it!


CURRIED PASTA SALAD   (feeds 4)


Ingredients :


200g pasta (penne or spirali are good)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp rogan josh curry paste
100g unflavoured greek yoghurt
juice of one quarter of a lemon
1 tbsp mango chutney
25g sultanas (or a large handful)
a large handful of fresh coriander, chopped finely
quarter of a large cucumber, deseeded and diced finely
1 Braeburn apple, cored, peeled and cut into matchsticks or fine dice
1 celery stick, de-stringed and cut into fine dice
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.


Method :


1.  Boil the pasta in salted water to manufacturer's instructions.  (Usually around 8-9 minutes).  Drain, then spread out in a flat layer on a plate, to cool.


2.  Mix the mayonnaise, curry paste, yoghurt, lemon juice, chutney and sultanas with plenty of seasoning.


3.  Add the pasta, coriander, cucumber, apple and celery and gently stir together until coated in the mayonnaise mixture.


4.  Serve.


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Spicy chicken with Mango Salad

I should, really, be entitling this one "Spicy chicken with mango salad (providing your grocery delivery contains a ripe mango)".  However, let's assume that mine did - and I'll tell you about it anyway.

Sorry about the dappled light - it was a pleasant evening!

This is one of those "had it before, last summer, liked it, decided to have it again" dishes.  Except (there always is, isn't there?) there is a difference this time, in that because we now have a shiny new non-stick (and it IS non-stick) frying pan, I decided to pan fry the chicken.  Last time I cooked the chicken in the oven, which results in a bit of a different finish.  Still nice, but it doesn't have the lovely crunchy crust of garam masala and curry powder that the chicken breast develops while it is cooking in the pan.

I also found it a lot easier to decide when the chicken was "just" done, which left it lovely and moist.  With oven cooking, you're at the mercy of the cooking time given by the recipe and the vagaries of your own oven.  You can't keep on checking it, because every time you open the oven door you're letting all the lovely heat out and so the chicken slows down the cooking process.  More often than not, it results in a very slightly overcooked chicken.  With pan frying, it was perfect.

True honours must go to the lime and sour cream dip/accompaniment.  Now I love lime and will eat it raw given the chance, so I have a suspicion that I enjoyed it rather more than the chaps did.  In fact, son & heir wouldn't touch it following on from a taster on the end of a piece of naan bread.  Hubby used the prescribed amount to accompany his chicken and dress his salad and agreed that it went very well with both - and as a dip for the somewhat surplus to requirements naan bread that was recommended by the recipe.  As for me, I took the remainder of the naan bread and the lime dip and ate it later on when I was watching t.v., it was that nice!


As I say, I really don't know what the naan bread was supposed to bring to the dish and definitely wouldn't have it again.  If you're desperate to have some carbohydrate input into the dish, a potato salad or maybe potato wedges would have been nicer.

One point of difference between the photograph and the recipe is the way we dealt with our cucumber.  In order to save hubby's sore mouth (where he'd bitten himself the night before) we sliced the cucumbers far more thinly than prescribed.  I don't think it mattered, but you may have wondered why!


The dish received a mixed reception from the chaps, in that hubby thought the chicken was rather one-dimensional and wouldn't be rushing to have it again, although equally he wouldn't say no if we did.  Son & heir hated the lime dip (~sob~) but liked the chicken.  Personally, I liked all of it and would very happily have it again tomorrow.  So this leads me to think that perhaps it's something of a "girl's dish", rather than something that appeals to big rufty tufty chaps.


SPICY CHICKEN WITH MANGO SALAD (serves 3)


Ingredients :


3 skinless, boneless & trimmed of all fat, chicken breasts
a drizzle of olive oil
1-2 tbsp garam masala (depending on the size of the chicken)
1-2 tbsp madras curry powder (as above)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 large ripe (ha!) mango
half a cucumber, pips removed and sliced into chunks diagonally
half a small red onion, sliced finely
a few Romaine lettuce leaves, shredded
a handful of fresh coriander leaves
4 tbsp sour cream
grated zest and juice of half a lime


Method :


1.  In a large plastic bag, add the chicken, the olive oil, garam masala, curry powder, salt and pepper.  Seal the bag and massage the mixture together until the chicken has been liberally coated.  Put to one side to briefly marinade.


2.  Mix the sour cream together with the lime zest and juice, season and mix thoroughly.
Put to one side in the fridge to stay cool.


3.  Heat a griddle or frying pan until hot.  Add the chicken and cook each side for 6-10 minutes over a low to moderate heat, allowing a crust to form.  Try not to flip from side to side, as it takes the contact between the pan and the chicken to really cook that crust.  You will find that the chicken becomes ever so slightly charred in places, which all adds to the flavour, but don't overdo it!


4.  While the chicken is cooking, prepare the salad by peeling and slicing the mango into thin wedges.  Place in a large bowl and add the cucumber pieces, lettuce, onion and coriander and toss together.  Season.


5.  To serve, pile the salad onto plates and slice each chicken breast into three.  Place with the salad and serve a dollop of the lime/sour cream mixture by the side.


Tuck in!


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