It has been a long old trail to this recipe, if I'm honest.
I now have a reputation (in the family - not globally, you understand), for being a master meatball maker. This is something of a turnaround from the days when I would suggest meatballs for dinner and be greeted with lukewarm interest and the remark "well, you're not very good at meatballs". Let me tell you, though, that there have been many meatballs passed under the bridge between then and now.
I'm pretty sure that I told you in another meatball post how I really wanted to create a tapas-style meatball, able to be eaten on its own - tapas style - with a glass of wine and maybe some bread as accompaniments.
Well, with tonight's "I really must make something with that lamb mince and that fennel, before they both go off" dinner, I think I achieved it.
I used lamb mince for its superb flavour, but I'm sure it would work as well with pork mince. Beef might be a tad too flavoursome for the fennel, but I imagine that turkey would work, although you'd lose some of the savouriness of the flavour. Anyway, give it a go with whatever you've got - and let me know!
I recently made some lamb meatballs that involved fresh mint and grated carrot. Now I was a bit dubious about the grated carrot, but I liked the idea of the sweetness it would bring, plus the added moistness. One of the big problems with meatballs, is keeping them moist and juicy. Nobody likes a dry, pasty meatball.
So when I was contemplating what to do with this lamb mince in conjunction with the fennel, I remembered the carrot meatballs and how successful they were. Carrot was a definite, but I pondered on adding some of the fennel to the meatball mix. Maybe if I grate some of the tougher, woody stems? No - they probably wouldn't cook quickly enough even with being grated. It needed something smaller and more tender. The bulb I was definitely going to slice and put in the sauce - which left the green, ferny, frondy bits that taste so good in a much milder way and are more of a herb than the bulb. If I chopped them finely, they would be perfect in the meatballs! Sorted.
The recipe I used for the meatballs with carrot, also rolled them in seasoned flour which when browned gave the meatballs a lovely tasty coating that then dissolved a little in the sauce, thickening it as it went. This solves the problem of "do I reduce the sauce further, or do I serve it thinner than I wanted, or shall I thicken it somehow?", so that method was a definite here too.
The sauce couldn't be any easier. It gave me an excuse to use two cloves of garlic (we could use some garlic about the place, as we have cold and sore throat germs floating around!) and use up a long lost rasher of bacon. Incidentally, the bacon - because it is cut into such fine strips - just melts away into the sauce lending it a special kind of saltiness and smokiness that you can't get any other way. Yummy.
Now, a cook's tip is to watch the amount of salt you use in the seasoning of the flour and the meatballs. Because you're using the bacon and if you're using a stock powder or cube that isn't reduced salt, you need to rein your salt sprinkling back. This is why I recommend to taste before serving and adjust then if necessary. You can't take it out if there's too much there to begin with! I used the beautiful Essential Cuisine Lamb Stock powder which is naturally low in salt and saves any need for worrying. Check out their website, as the fabulous stock powders really aren't expensive and last for absolutely ages - well, apart from the chicken version which disappeared at the rate of knots!
Son and heir was out on a sleepover and missed this one. He's going to be very cross about that when he finds out, as this was his perfect kind of dinner. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed his, even though he is poorly at the moment (see earlier comment about sore throat germs) and ate the lot, which he was seriously dubious about doing before he tasted it. As for me, well I was busy congratulating myself over - finally - making the elusive tapas style meatballs, but I did pause to note that it tasted as good as I wanted it to - if not better.
TAPAS MEATBALLS IN TOMATO & FENNEL SAUCE (serves 3-4)
Ingredients :
600g lamb mince
1 medium carrot, top & tailed and grated
sea salt & black pepper
1 onion, chopped fine
1 rasher of smoked bacon, cut into fine strips
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 bulb of fennel, sliced finely and
1 tbsp fennel frondy tops, chopped finely
2 tbsp seasoned plain flour
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
500ml good quality tomato passata
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp of powder or half a cube of lamb stock
100ml cold water.
Method :
1. It is very worthwhile making sure you have all the vegetables prepared before you roll the meatballs in flour, to avoid the meatballs sticking catastrophically to their plate.
2. In a large bowl, add the lamb mince, the grated carrot and the frondy parts of the fennel. Season with a little sea salt and a lot of black pepper and mix with your hands, making sure the component parts are all well combined.
3. Place the seasoned flour onto a large plate and begin to roll your meatballs. Larger meatballs will feed less people, smaller ones more people, so it is up to you what size you make them. Place each meatball onto the plate, roll in the flour and continue until you have run out of meatball mix.
4. Heat the rapeseed oil in a deep frying pan and add enough meatballs so that you aren't overcrowding the pan. You want the heat to stay moderately high so as to cook the outside of the meatballs, without burning and without stewing in their own juice. Cook the meatballs in batches, if necessary. It is not necessary to cook them all the way through at this stage, so remove to a clean plate as they are done.
5. Without wiping out the pan (you don't want to lose all that flavour), add the onion and bacon and cook on a moderate heat until the onion is transparent. This should take 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the garlic and cook, stirring well, for a minute.
7. Add the fennel slices and stir to combine. Cook until the fennel is beginning to demonstrate some softening.
8. Add the tomato passata, tomato ketchup, water and stock powder or cube. Stir well to combine, then put a lid on so as to allow some steam to escape but keep the heat in (half cocked, I call it!) and allow to simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. Your sauce should have reduced a little and thickened a little. Try the fennel to see whether it is soft and cook on for a little longer if not. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.
10. Serve into warmed bowls, with bread for dipping and a side salad if you wish.
Printable version
For really quite a long time - ever since seeing them on the t.v. - I have wanted to reproduce those gorgeous Spanish style tapas meatballs that you see being served in small terracotta dishes. They look so yummy with their thick tomato sauce that just the sight of them is enough to set my saliva glands tingling.
Well - and purely by accident - I think I've just achieved it.
I didn't set out to make a tapas-style meatball at all. I'd found a recipe on goodfoodchannel.co.uk probably around a year or more ago, which I'd filed away in my folder of "good ideas" with a view to making some time in the future. It was a Peter Gordon recipe, so immediately I had confidence in it as Peter Gordon always appears to me to be something of a "serious" chef, as opposed to those who are more keen on the t.v. appearances than making good food.
What made me decide to make the recipe now, though, was entirely down to the fact that I had a tin of Sainsbury's butter beans burning a hole in my tin cupboard. I'd had a discussion with a friend on Facebook about how much we liked butter beans and she'd recommended Sainsbury's as being good ones of their type. (Thanks Marj!) I really dislike soggy butter beans that just fall apart when they're cooked - and these ones definitely don't do that. They're tender, but still firm enough to cope with being stirred regularly. Now I really - no, really - like butter beans, so the knowledge that I had a tin of good ones in the cupboard was more than enough enticement.
There was something else about the recipe that tickled my curiosity. In the meatball method, it said to include four tablespoonfuls of cold water into the meatball mixture. I so nearly didn't do this, as it seemed as though - with the grated carrot there too - it stood the chance of making the meatball terribly soggy. However, I decided to place my trust in Peter Gordon's capable hands and complied with the recipe. What a revelation!
Now anyone who has ever made meatballs from scratch, will know that the blasted meatball mix will stick to your fingers and steadfastly refuse to be moulded into a ball. I'd read a little tip which said to run your fingers under cold water whilst rolling the ball, which very definitely helped - in fact, it made the task do-able. However, if you add the water to the meatball mix, you don't need to keep running them under the tap (with accompanying water wasteage and cross-contamination hygiene issues). The meatball mix just rolls up without a squeak of complaint and - what's even better - is the meatball stays moist and delicious throughout the browning process, right the way to being served! As I say - a revelation!
The grated carrot was another departure from the norm - and one which worked brilliantly. The flavours of lamb and mint are traditional and the addition of the grated carrot really brought out the sweetness of the lamb, along with helping to ensure the meatballs stayed moist.
As ever, well you wouldn't expect anything else now, would you? I made a few changes to the original recipe - which I have reflected in the recipe below - both to suit what ingredients I had in the house and to suit our palates. Amongst a few other things, for instance, the original recipe called for 8 cloves of garlic. Now we do like garlic - but 8? Between three of us? I don't think so - especially as all eight go into the sauce! Hence, I trimmed it down to a much more acceptable 2.
The quantity of mince is 800g on the recipe, whereas a supermarket pack of mince is generally 600g. From the 600g, I made 21 meatballs which were a good size - with a bowl of sauce and butterbeans for lunch the following day. (Which coupled with a fresh baked baguette was just such a stellar lunch!). So feel free to increase the size to 800g if you've extra mouths to feed. I found the 600g fed the three of us perfectly.
The recipe also called for 200g of bacon lardons. Well, I have to admit that I've no time for lardons - not when my local butcher is still selling their wonderful smoked back bacon for a fraction of the price of 100g of lardons! It's all bacon, after all. So I swapped those lardons for three large (and I'm talking large) rashers of smoked back bacon, cut into small pieces. It worked. It worked very nicely thank you.
Owing to hubby's sensitivity to tomatoes - the acidity tends to give him rampant indigestion if not cooked out very well indeed - I habitually add a little tomato ketchup. Now you could add a little sugar to do the same job - but tomato ketchup has all those intriguing spices along with the sugar, that add that little je ne sais quoi to a tomato sauce and helps to kill the acidity.
Quite apart from anything else, this recipe is a complete doddle to make. Apart from forming the meatballs (which really doesn't take very long at all), it's a simple matter of chucking everything in order into a deep pan, stirring occasionally and cooking something to help mop up the sauce.
Speaking of which, I decided to cook some Orzo. Now I'd only ever used Orzo once before, in my Greek Lamb & Orzo Bake - which we all really liked. So I knew that I was onto a fairly safe bet there. Son and heir was momentarily befuddled by it, asking what sort of rice it was, but was satisfied when we revealed that it was a tiny pasta instead. He commented that it was "odd" and didn't finish his portion - but for the first go in a very long time, plus the first time of having it as a side dish, I think he did pretty well. He's a conservative ole thing, don'cha know. I added a few frozen peas to the Orzo more with a view to their colour than flavour, but they added a nice sweetness that the Orzo alone couldn't have delivered.
All in all, I was very pleased indeed with this meal. Everyone loved the meatballs and to have found a tapas style meatball in tomato sauce is a very definite bonus, as I have a yen to make a tapas style dinner one night. So, my first dish is tucked firmly behind my ear for later!
LAMB & CARROT MEATBALLS WITH BUTTERBEANS (serves 3)
Ingredients :
600g lean minced lamb
1 tbsp fresh mint, shredded
1 carrot, peeled and grated
100g plain flour
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsp dried rosemary
200g bacon lardons
750ml tomato passata
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp lamb stock powder (or half a lamb stock cube)
400g tin butter beans
fresh parsley, finely chopped.
Method :
1. Make sure that all the vegetables are prepped and ready to go, before you make up the meatball mix, or the meatballs will stick to their plate as they wait to be browned.
2. In a large bowl, mix the lamb, mint and carrot together with some seasoning and 4 tbsp cold water. Form the mixture into balls the size of a walnut.
3. Take a large freezer bag and mix the flour together with some seasoning. Roll each meatball in the flour until coated.
4. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok. Once hot enough to sizzle the meatballs, add them gently and without crowding. You may need to brown them in two batches. Brown them all over and remove with a slotted spoon onto a warm plate.
5. Once all the meatballs are browned, drain the majority of the fat from the pan and add the onion. Cook over a moderate heat until softened and turning golden.
6. Add the garlic and rosemary, cooking until the onion is beginning to caramelise and the garlic is softened.
7. Add the bacon and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until all the water has cooked out of the bacon and it is beginning to turn golden.
8. Add the passata, tomato ketchup and the lamb stock powder - (I used Essential Cuisine's superb lamb stock powder) - along with 200ml of water. Stir well, then add the butter beans and bring to a boil, stirring as it heats through.
9. Once up to temperature, return the meatballs to the pan and coat with the tomato sauce. Place a lid on the pan and simmer for 35-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
10. Serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley.
Printable version
The recipe for this curry was entitled "North Indian Chicken Curry" by Anjum Anand, however, as I have no idea whether the inclusion of some cauliflower still renders it qualifying for the term "North Indian", I've left it off of the title.
I had had a break from making curries and we'd been sampling hubby's curry making skills (which are legendary). However, I'd found myself hankering for another go, particularly a go where you build the curry flavour from scratch - as opposed to making use of a jar of curry paste. The one challenge I had was to ensure the curry had a "curry" flavour - as opposed to being just a highly spiced casserole.
This curry certainly met that challenge and was downright jolly successful. I served it with plain basmati rice, some Peshwari naans and a home-made raita. I found the raita went together with the curry perfectly - the combined flavours were gorgeous and I'd definitely make a raita to go with it again. Oh, and don't be scared of the four garlic cloves - you don't notice them!
So, here's the recipe :
CHICKEN & CAULIFLOWER CURRY
Ingredients :
4 tbsp oil
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon, or 1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 green cardamom pods
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 medium onion, chopped
1.5 tbsp grated ginger
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp chilli powder
4-5 tbsp tomato passata
500g chicken breast, diced large
5-6 cauliflower florets, sliced
1 handful coriander leaves, chopped.
Method :
1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan until it is quite hot, but not smoking. Add the cloves, cinnamon (if a stick), cardamom pods and cumin seeds and fry for about 20 seconds until aromatic.
2. Add the onion and cook for around 10 minutes until golden brown, stirring often to prevent it burning. Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for 40 seconds before adding a pinch of salt and the ground spices (included cinnamon, if the ground variety) and stir for 15 seconds or so.
3. Pour in the tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes or until the liquid in the pan has dried off and the oil leaves the side of the dry masala.
4. Add the chicken and brown (or white!) over a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the cauliflower and stir to make sure it is covered in sauce. Add enough water to almost cover the chicken, bring to the boil and then cook over a low heat until the chicken is cooked through. I cooked it with a lid for around half the cooking time, to ensure that the chicken and cauliflower cooked, then turned the heat up and reduced the sauce until it reached the consistency we prefer. The slower it cooks, the better it tastes - so try not to rush it!
5. Once you're happy with the consistency and the chicken and cauliflower are cooked and tender, mix in the coriander leaves and serve.
Delicious!
