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While I am a carbivore, my daughter is a total carnivore.  Luckily, there are some meals that we can agree upon.

My goal is always to get T to eat what we are eating.  I’d rather make one great meal than two time-pressed dinners.  And I love recipes that make multiple meals, are easy to portion and are portable.  These meatballs fit all of those prerequisites.

The first recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  These meatballs have so much flavor.  It’s comfort food without feeling really heavy.  This is the perfect dinner, any night of the week, that the whole family will enjoy.

Lamb Meatballs with Feta and Lemon

Meatball Ingredients

• 3 to 8 tablespoons water (8 if you are going to brown them, 3 if you are not)
• 2 pounds ground lamb
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, fresh or plain, such as Panko
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Zest of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, fresh or plain, such as Panko
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Zest of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinches of red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1/3 cup pitted, chopped kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced mint leaves, plus more for garnish (I omit)
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
• Juice of one lemon
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta, for garnish
• *I also added an extra 16 oz can of tomatoes

Directions

If you plan don’t plan to brown the meatballs, use only 3 tablespoons water.  If you do, use all 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup).  In a large bowl, combine all meatball ingredients except oil, using a fork/hands.  Using wet hands, form mixture into small (1 1/2 to 2-inch diameter) meatballs; A large cookie scoop works well for easy sizing.

Brown meatballs

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and heat it through. Evenly space meatballs in pan and very carefully turn and roll them so that all sides become brown. Don’t worry if they don’t remain perfectly round or pieces become stuck to the pan; they will deliciously infuse the sauce. Drain meatballs on a paper towel-lined plate.

(If you prefer not to fry your meatballs before cooking them in the sauce, you can cook them right in the sauce — it will take about 10 minutes longer.)

Make sauce and finish cooking meatballs

Pour out all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet and return to medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add wine or vermouth and scrape up any bits stuck to the pan. Cook until the liquid almost disappears. Add tomatoes, oregano, lemon zest, salt, pepper flakes, olives, mint and parsley, and tomato paste. Bring mixture to a simmer and return meatballs to the pan. Cover with a lid and cook at the lowest simmer for 20 to 24 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Squeeze lemon juice over meatballs and sauce.

Serve

Sprinkle with additional olives, feta and herbs. I’ve served over orzo as well as cavatelli (pictured here).  I loved the texture of the cavatelli with the meatballs.

Via Self.com

The next recipe comes from Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good (pictured above). These meatballs are healthy, yet flavorful, and I love eating them over a bed of arugula with a shallot dressing.  For T, I just serve her the meatballs along side some veggies and she gobbles them up.

Turkey Meatballs

Meatball Ingredients

• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup arugula, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 8 fresh basil leaves (fresh is ideal)
• Leaves from 4 sprigs thyme (fresh is ideal)
• Leaves from 1 sprig rosemary (fresh is ideal)
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups Go-To Tomato Sauce* or store-bought spaghetti sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

In a food processor, pulse onion, arugula, parsley, garlic, sage, basil, thyme and rosemary until finely chopped. In a bowl, combine onion-herb mixture with turkey, salt and pepper; mix with hands. Roll turkey mixture into 24 golf ball-sized meatballs. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Cook meatballs in batches in the skillet, flipping until browned on all sides (about 10 minutes).  If you aren’t making the sauce, I transfer the meatballs to a paper towel to drain.  After draining, I place them on a wax paper lined baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10/15 more minutes to make sure they are cooked through.

Shallot Dressing

This is my dressing and I just kind of wing it.  Please note, I am heavy-handed on the vinegar, so you may want to use less.

• 1 cup of olive oil
• 1 small shallot diced small
• ½ of a juiced lemon
• ¼ cut apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Pinch of salt and pepper

*Check out Gwyneth’s book to make with her tomato sauce.

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