It's no secret that I love Donna Hay magazines. I have a yearly subscription. Every season, I patiently wait for it to arrive in my mailbox. I grab it from there, rip the plastic covering open and soak in the mouth-watering feature on the cover. As human beings, we're quite visual and just from looking at the pictures in the magazine, I feel as if the food is just going to jump out from it to my table. Unfortunately, that's not the case. BUT, fortunately, I like to cook and I do improvise and substitute a lot of ingredients and steps too. That being said, I changed a few things which I've outlined in the rest of this post.What I substituted:
burghul with couscousoregano with basil
ground cumin with whole cumin seeds
What I omitted:
pecorino
sugar
What I did differently:
I halved the entire recipe and made 12-14 meatballs.
I used only 1 casserole pan and didn't fry the meatballs separately in a different pan. Just saves up an extra pan to clean.
I didn't grate the mozzarella, I sliced it thinly and placed them on top of the meatballs.
The oven temperature is set to 200C instead of 250C.
What I'll change for next time:
I'll use dried herbs instead of fresh. It was difficult to roll the meatballs - it kept falling apart.
What did it taste like?I really liked this recipe. It is the perfect comfort food. I served this with fettucine (Barilla) and it was oh-so-yummy. The meatballs had a slightly sweet edge to it. My kitchen smelled so lovely and warm from the harissa paste and passata sauce which by the way was a good combination of spicy and sweet. I figured it will be good with sourdough bread or even as burger patties. But don't forget to make the sauce - it compliments the dish.
Here's the original recipe:
baked lamb and oregano meatballs
From Donna Hay Magazine, Issue 74, April/May 2014
ingredients:1/2 cup fine burghul
3/4 cup boiling water
1kg lamb mince
2 eggs
2 cups oregano leaves, chopped
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/3 cup pomegranate molasses
sea salt and cracked black pepper
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tbsps harissa paste
2 1/4 cups passata
2 cups grated mozzarella
1/4 cup finely grated pecorino
1/2 cup oregano leaves, extra
steps:
Preheat oven to 250C (500F). Place the burghul and water in a large bowl and mix to combine. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to stand for 15minutes or until the water is absorbed and the grains are tender. Add the mince, eggs, oregano, cumin and 2 tsps of sugar, the molasses, salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Using wet hands, roll 2 tbsps at a time into balls. Heat 1 tbsps of the oil in a large non stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the meatballs, in batches, turning frequently, for 5-7minutes or until browned. Place in a 2.5 litre ovenproof dish and set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute or until lightly golden. Add the harissa, puree, remaining sugar, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cook until slightly reduced. Pour the sauce into the dish over the meatballs and top with the mozzarella and pecorino. Bake for 10-12minutes, top with the extra oregano leaves and cook for a further 2-3minutes or until golden.
Serves 4-6.
Comments