I like meatballs so much I’m blogging about them!

I love meatballs.   Meaty goodness, in a bite-sized package — all the fun of meatloaf without the commitment!

One of the things I like about them is the fact that you can combine them with all kinds of flavours — any way you want.  That way you can eat them in all kinds of forms — not just restricted to the usual spaghetti and meatballs.

Cooking today, I had a hankering for the same meatballs I was preparing during the day, for our dinner at home — flavoured with a bit of orange zest, and filled with bulgur instead of breadcrumbs.  For our dinner, I decided to put them in pita bread and top with tzatziki (kind of like donair), and pair with a quick “cleanoutthefridge” greek salad.

Making meatballs is pretty basic: you need meat, some kind of binder, and some kind of flavouring.  With those basic parameters, its pretty easy to come up with gazillions of permutations and combinations.

For these: I started with extra lean ground beef as the meat, bulgur + egg + tomato paste as the binders, and orange zest + garlic + basil + oregano as the flavourings.

Next, these get all mixed up.  I almost always use my hands, partly because they do an efficient job of mixing, and partly because it allows me to feel the texture.  You want to mix everything well, but not to bash the life out of them or the meatballs will be pretty tough.  With the addition of the egg here, the mixture is slightly moist, but will hold together just fine in the end.  Then I measure these out.  I find a 1/4 cup measure or a large scoop just about right in terms of size.  This may seem a little obsessive, BUT, they will cook more evenly if they are all the same size!  When I shape them, I kind of slap them gently from one hand to another, which helps them to hold together.

I almost always bake my meatballs.  400 degrees, about 20 minutes, cooks them perfectly through.  Baking in the oven means that  I don’t have to worry about turning in the frypan, and I can spend that time chopping vegetables for a side-dish, or making a sauce if that’s my inclination that night.  (About the only time I fry meatballs is when I’m making Swedish Meatballs — the pan bits are essential for the sauce there!)

Finally, time to enjoy!  These were wrapped in a whole wheat naan bread, with tzatziki, and some quick greek salad on the side.  A quick but tasty weeknight dinner!

Play around with the basic ratios here — Food is supposed to be fun!!!

Meatballs v1.5

• 3/4 lb. xtra lean ground beef or other ground meat
• 1/3 cup bulgur, combined with 1/3 cup boiling water
• 3 T tomato paste
• 1 egg
• zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano