Meatballs and peas in tomato sauce

This dish comes from Palestine and is packed with spicy flavours both in the meatballs and in the sauce.

It can be served as a supper dish or as a meze dish.

Preparation Time: 20 Mins

Cooking Time: 50 Mins

Total Time: 80 Mins

Ingredients

For 4 servings…

For the meatballs

2 slices             Bread  - stale white   

50 ml              Milk         

1                    Onion  - chopped roughly       

2 cloves            Garlic  - crushed      

500 gms           Mince  - beef           

2 tsp               Cinnamon  - ground  

1 tsp               Allspice  - ground    

15 gms            Parsley  - chopped    

10 gms            Mint  - chopped roughly         

1                    Lemon  - zest of, grated          

70 gms            Olives  - green - pitted, chopped roughly  

  Pepper  - freshly ground, black         

1¼ tsp             Salt          

For the tomato sauce

50 ml              Olive oil    

1                    Onion  - chopped finely          

4 cloves            Garlic  - crushed      

1 tsp               Cumin seeds  - crushed lightly  

6 pods             Cardamon  - bashed 

1 stick             Cinnamon  

½ tsp              Chilli flakes

2 tsp               Tomato purée         

8                    Tomatoes  - plum, chopped     

250 ml             Stock  - chicken        

2 tsp               Sugar  - muscovado  

  Pepper          

  Salt              

300 gms           Peas  - frozen          

150 gmas         Feta cheese  - cut into cubes     

To serve

2                    Shallots  - chopped   

                     Parsley      

Method

To make the meatballs...

Put the bread and milk into a bowl and mash together until the bread has completely disintegrated.

Put the onion into a food processor and pulse a few times until very finely chopped but not liquidised.  Then add the bread-milk mixture, the garlic, mince, spices, herbs, lemon zest, olives, salt and pepper.  Blend just long enough to mix the ingredients.

With lightly oiled hands, shape the mixture into golf ball-size balls.

Put 2 tablespoons of oil into an oven-proof, large sauté pan and place on a medium heat.  Add the meatballs in batches — do not overcrowd the pan — and fry them for about 3 minutes, turning so that all sides get nicely browned.  Transfer the balls to a separate plate and set aside.

Heat an oven to 22O°C.

To make the sauce…

Return the pan used to fry the meatballs to the heat and add another tablespoon of oil.  Put in the onion and cook for about 6 minutes until softened and nicely browned - scraping the pan for any flavoursome bits at the bottom.  Add the garlic, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, chilli and tomato purée and cook for another minute.  A dd the tomatoes, stock, sugar, salt and pepper and cook for about 20 minutes - until reduced by a third.

Remove from the heat, stir in the peas.  Top with the meatballs, scatter over the feta and drizzle with the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil.  Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked though, the sauce is bubbling and the feta has taken on some colour.  Leave to sit for about 10 minutes and then sprinkle with the shallots and parsley.

Serve.

Variations

The bread and milk can be replaced with grated and drained courgette.

Wine recommendations

A robust red wine.

Conventional

     Côtes du Rhône

Interesting

     Cairanne

     Corbières

     Cornas

     Saint Joseph