Meatballs (Keftedes)

  

Meatballs (Keftedes)

Cook: 25 - 30 min

Prep: 8 - 10 min

Makes: 40-45 small meatballs

The ancient Greeks loved eating meatballs cooked in a broth. We still love our meatballs in soup or served as part of an appetizer plate or even as a main entrée with pastakefa. Consider adding more spices, per taste.

Meatball ingredients

3 slices toasted brown bread	1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1 1/2 pounds ground beef	1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 small onion, finally chopped	1 tablespoon dried basil
2 cloves garlic, minced	1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 whole eggs Salt and pepper, to taste	1 tablespoon dried mint

Ingredients for Frying

Salt	Olive oil
Flour

Crumble bread and combine all of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Cover bowl with saran wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or overnight). With a teaspoon, scoop meat mixture into palm of hand and roll into balls and roll in lightly salted flour. Cover the bottom of a frying pan (about ½ inch) with oil. When oil is hot, add meatballs for about 5 minutes, turning them over until all sides are golden brown and cooked through. Once cooked, drain on a paper towel. May be served hot or cold.

Notes for Greek Meatballs, Fried

Hello, everyone! This is my first blog post, so I wanted to take a second to introduce myself.  I’m Catherine Alexandres Morfas, daughter of Elaine Kootsikas Alexandres. I am also the granddaughter of Yiayia Coula Kootsikas and niece of Thea Maria Kootsikas Montalbano. My husband and I just moved to Oklahoma, so I’m happy that I am still able to take part in this project from a distance!

A few weekends ago, I made fried keftedes and tzatziki.  While these are generally appetizers, I made them for dinner. At 26, I don’t really have the time or willpower to make multiple courses.  

I started with the keftedes.  Overall, the recipe worked well.  My only complaint was there was way too much onion, so I cut down the amount.  I also couldn’t find the right kind of cheese, so I looked for an alternative online.  Parmesan was apparently the best option, and I thought it went well with the flavors. I also found that crumbling the bread by hand didn’t get the crumbs as fine as I wanted, which resulted in lumpy meatballs.  In the future, I would use a food processor to make them a finer consistency.  Finally, frying the meatballs, while messy, worked relatively well.  I would enjoy trying to bake them in an oven or air fryer when I next attempt this recipe.

Part of my interest in this project was taking these recipes and adapting them for people with dietary needs.  I have a dietary condition called IBS, which means that I can’t eat certain foods without getting a severe stomach ache.  Three of the chief foods are gluten, garlic, and onions, which are of course in almost every Greek recipe ever.  For the keftedes, I used gluten free bread to replace the regular bread.  To replace the garlic and onions, I doubled the other spices.  While they turned out pretty well, I think I would like to experiment with adding more or different spices to get a stronger flavored meatball.

The tzatziki recipe was great! I had no modifications, although if you are worried about the dip being too runny, you could always strain the shredded cucumber before adding it to the yogurt.  I bought Fage Greek yogurt, so I didn’t strain it, which cut out an extra step if you’re looking for shortcuts!

For fun, I also tried the tzatziki dip with non-dairy Greek yogurt.  While it made a tasty dip, it wasn’t exactly like tzatziki.  The non-dairy yogurt, despite being sugar free, was naturally sweeter than regular yogurt, which was an odd flavor clash with the other ingredients.  To counterbalance the sweetness, I added extra salt to taste and upped the vinegar to a tablespoon, rather than a teaspoon. While I enjoyed the dip, I wouldn’t recommend this version unless you have a dairy allergy or are strict-fasting for Lent.  

Keftedes

Prep time: 8-10 minutes

Cooking time: ~30-40 minutes

1 ½ lbs ground beef

½ onion, finely chopped (emphasis on finely)

3 slices toasted brown bread, crumbled in a food processor

2 whole eggs

2 cloves garlic, mashed

¼ t. Oregano

¼ t. Sweet basil

1 t. Dried parsley or 4 sprigs chopped fresh parsley

1 t. Chopped fresh mint or ½ t. Dried mint

¼ c. grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly salted flour 

Oil (I used vegetable); may use extra-virgin olive oil which has a high smoking point for frying

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT flour and oil in a large mixing bowl and mix lightly.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for as long as possible (overnight is best). With teaspoon, scoop mixture into palm of hands.  Lightly roll into balls; roll balls in lightly salted flour.  Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to cover the bottom of the pan. Oil should be ½ inch deep.  When oil is hot, add floured meatballs.  Turn meatballs to brown evenly; fry until done, about 5-10 minutes (depending on the size of your meatballs.)  Drain on layers of paper towels.  Serve hot or cold. Makes 40-45 small meatballs.

IBS-friendly keftedes

Cooking time: ~30-40 minutes

1 ½ lbs ground beef

3 slices toasted gluten free bread, crumbled in a food processor

2 whole eggs

½ t. Oregano

½ t. Sweet basil

2 t. Dried parsley or 8 sprigs chopped fresh parsley

2 t. Chopped fresh mint or 1 t. Dried mint

¼ c. grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly salted gluten free flour blend (I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure)

Oil (I used vegetable)

Follow the instructions above.

Tzatziki

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: n/a

1 cup strained yogurt (or Greek yogurt)

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

Salt to taste 

Finely chopped dill, to taste (optional)

1-2 t. Vinegar

2 t. Oil (I used olive oil)

½ cucumber, peeled and grated (can strain if desired)

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Serve as a dip. Cover to refrigerate. NOTE: may use small rounds of French bread, bread sticks, or pita. Also good with fresh vegetables, chips, or as a spread in sandwiches.

IBS-friendly Tzatziki

1 cup strained dairy free yogurt (or Greek yogurt-must be no sugar added. Avoid coconut as it will be naturally sweet)

Salt to taste 

Finely chopped dill (optional)

1-2 T. Vinegar

2 t. Oil (I used olive oil)

½ cucumber, peeled and grated (can strain if desired)

Follow the instructions above.

Update: I remade these the other night to try to make some of the changes I mentioned.  I used much finer bread crumbs, added a little more spice (heaping teaspoons), and used an air fryer.  With the air fryer, I made slightly larger meatballs, which gave me about 20 meatballs, and air fried them at 380 degrees for 12 minutes. They were great! Much more aesthetically pleasing and very tasty!