Here is a recipe I like to make often. It’s fast, easy and really tasty! I love Mediterranean flavors and these ones really enhance a good beef meat. I used green olives, but it’s only a matter of taste, you can replace them by black olives if you prefer. Replace capers by sun-dried tomatoes and you have a new Mediterranean meatballs recipe .
Preparation time: 20 mn Cooking time: 15 mn
Ingredients (for 4 servings)
18 oz (500 g) of ground beef meat
5 tablespoons of stoned green olives
5 oz (140 g) of feta cheese (1 1/2 oz for topping + 3 1/2 for mixture)
4 tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs
7 tablespoons of milk
4 tomatoes
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 big onion
2 teaspoons of capers
Salt and pepper
Instructions
1/ Soak breadcrumbs in milk in a small bowl.
2/ Peel and chop onion.
3/ Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and let it melt gently.
4/ In a salad bowl combine meat, eggs and breadcrumbs. Add salt.
5/ When onions are translucent and soft, take them off heat and let them cool down.
6/ Chop olives and feta cheese. Combine with meat mixture.
7/ When onions have cooled down a little, add to mixture along with capers.
8/ Shape into meatballs. (Don’t make them too big, they would be more difficult to keep in one piece. A good size is slightly bigger than the tomato slice you’re going to add on top )
9/ Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C/Th 6).
10/ Heat in a pan over medium/high heat 2 minutes on each side.
11/ Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to an ovenproof dish and dispose meatballs.
12/ Rinse and slice tomatoes.
13/ Add a tomato slice on top of each meatball. Top with feta cheese, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.
14/ Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until feta cheese has a nice golden color.
Serve with gratin dauphinois, green asparagus, mushroom baked potatoes or spinach soufflés.