I have never been a huge fan of the classic Italian meatballs in red sauce, but these small crispy meatballs are a favorite, especially when served with yogurt sauce. They make a great tapa, alongside French fries and cubes of feta, or serve with orzo and a salad for an easy Greek dinner.
You can also make a bunch and freeze them before frying. They thaw quickly for an easy, fast dinner.
Greek Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (or mix with pork or lamb)
- 1 small onion (or half a large one)
- 1 cup stale bread or breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, oregano, or mint
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- flour for dusting (wondra fine flour is best)
- 1/2 pound orzo
Yogurt Sauce
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley, mint or oregano (or 1T fresh, minced)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- The first step is to make a rough paste by blending together the bread (or breadcrumbs), onions and fresh herbs in a blender or food processor. You could chop everything finely by hand if you prefer.
- If using stale bread, which I prefer to do, cut into pieces then soak in a bowl of water for just a few seconds. Squeeze out the water and add it to the food processor.
- Chop the onion and add to the bread in the food processor. Note if your machine will chop the onion finely, you don’t have to chop first, but you don’t want big chunks of onion in your meatballs.
- Add the herbs to the bread mixture and process together until it forms a rough paste.
- In a separate bowl, combine ground meat, the bread paste, egg, olive oil, garlic and salt. Use your hands to mix very thoroughly.
- Put some Wondra flour on a dinner plate. Form the meatballs by rolling about a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture between your palms. They should be smaller than a ping pong ball. Then roll the meatball in the flour until it is lightly coated all around, set on a clean plate and repeat.
- Put the meatballs in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to chill and set. Af this point, you can also freeze some for future use.
- Mix together the yogurt sauce ingredients in a serving bowl and set in the refrigerator to chill.
- Heat about 1/3 cup olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the meatballs until browned all over, roughly 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the orzo in salted water and drain. Transfer to a serving bowl.
- Remove the meatballs to a warm plate. Pour a bit of the oil from the meatballs over the orzo to just coat, and stir well to combine. You can add Parmesan or feta to the orzo, but I like it plain. Serve immediately with yogurt sauce on the side.