Greek Meatballs in Lemon Sauce (Κεφτέδες με αυγολέμονο)

I absolutely love Greek food, I love how fresh the ingredients are and how well they work together. I used to live in Greece not that long ago and loved the sun, sea and............fresh food, I even managed to pick up quite a bit of the language so I could communicate better whilst I was there. In September 2013 I travelled to Zakynthos and stumbled into a local Greek restaurant where I had local Greek food, which was the inspiration for "Κεφτέδες με αυγολέμονο" or "Greek Meatballs in Lemon sauce".

You can see my review on Trip Advisor here -  Kandouni, Zakynthos Town

Ingredients

2 Lemons

1 medium sized onion

5 cloves of garlic minced

Handful of oregano

Handful of mint

Harmful of parsley

3 eggs

400g of Beef Mince or 200g each of beef & lamb mince mixed together

Bunch of Dill

Chicken stock

Salt

Pepper

For the chips

3 white potatoes 

Olive oil

Dried Oregano

Salt

Method

Chop the onion finely

Mince the garlic then finely chop the parsley, oregano and mint and add to the mix.

Mix the mixture together

Take 2 slices of bread and add it to a bowl of water.

Take the slices of bread out the water one at a time  and squeeze with your hands to remove as much liquid as possible then add the bread to the mixture.

Mix the bread into the mixture

Add 1 egg to the mixture and mix together and shape into a ball and cover with clingfilm.

Add to the fridge for at least a couple of hours if not longer.

Once your mixture has had time to chill  remove from the fridge and shape into large meatballs

Once you have shaped all the mixture into meatballs place on a baking tray with greaseproof paper or tin foil

Place in the oven for 30 minutes on 140c or gas mark 2. What you are trying to do is not to cook the meatballs but to add a bit of heat that will remove some of the moisture  and firm up the meatballs so they don't fall apart later when you add them to the mix.

Once done remove from the oven.

Now we need to make the Lemon & Egg sauce. Firstly get a bowl and a whisk, together with 2 lemons and 2 eggs.

Crack the eggs into the the bowl

Now whisk them together.

Squeeze the juice from both lemons and add to the mix.

Whisk the egg and the lemon together.

Add the chicken stock to a pan and heat gently

Now this bit is very important. When the chicken stock is warm a spoonful to the lemon and egg mix and whisk, repeat this around 7 to 10 times adding a spoonful each time then whisking after every spoonful. The reason this part is important is because if you do not do it this way the egg will cook or curdle  which we don't want.

Now add the contents of the lemon and egg mix to the rest of the chicken stock that's been warming and whisk together

Now chop some fresh dill

Add the fresh dill to the sauce and mix together.

Heat and reduce. Tip: if you want it a little thicker add some thickening granules or sieve in some cornflour.

Add the meatballs into the sauce.

Add salt and pepper to taste and some more dill if required.

Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime lets make some Greek style chips.

Peel the potatoes

Cut the chips into thin chips that are thinner than normal chips width ways.

Add the chips to a bowl of water.

Heat up a pan of olive oil. Be careful not to heat it too much, olive oil will burn quicker than normal vegetable oil.

Pat the chips dry ready to add to the pan of olive oil.

Now add to the pan of oil.

After 10 to 15 minutes or when the chips are done remove from the oil and place on a kitchen towel to remove any excess oil.

Season the chips with oregano and salt. 

Serve 3 to 4 meatballs with the Lemon & Egg sauce.

Enjoy!!!

Yum!!

Aromatic Lamb Minced Curry

This recipe is full on favour, a lovely aromatic lamb curry that you wont be disappointed with. 

Ingredients

400g Lamb Mince

2 Medium sized onions

30 - 40 Cardamon pods

3 Cloves

Bay leaf

Handful of Methi leaves

Fresh Coriander

Coriander seeds

Cumin seeds

4 Tomatoes 

Gravy granules
Cinnamon Stick

Lamb stock cubes x 2

Ginger paste

Garlic paste

Fresh ginger

2 Medium chillies 

Chilli powder

Oil

1 Lemon

1 Lime

Lemon juice from a bottle.

Salt to taste

Method

Finely chop the onions and add to a hot pan with some oil 

After 5  minutes add the lamb mince & 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds and the juice of 1 lemon or if you are using lemon juice from a bottle use around 4 - 6 tablespoons 

Mix the onions, cumin seeds, bay leaf  and mince together until the mince is brown, 

Once brown remove from the heat and put contents through a colander to remove any excess fat.

Put the contents back into the pain and add the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime + another 4 tablespoons of lemon juice from a bottle

Finely chop the chillies and add to the mix

Add 2 tablespoons of garlic paste and 1 tablespoon of ginger paste

Add 4 tablespoons of garam masala, 2 tablespoon of chilli powder 3 cloves and 4 Cardamon pods and mix together then remove from the heat.

In a pestle and mortar open 30 to 40 Cardamom pods and take out the fresh Cardamom inside, add 2 tablespoons of coriander seeds and a 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds, using the pestle and mortar mix and crush together and add contents to the pot with the cinnamon stick.

Boil the kettle and pour boiling hot water onto the mix so it covers the mix, add more water depending on how wet you want it & return to the heat.

Add the handful of Methi leaves. If you have time put them in a dry frying pan for 2 minutes to release the flavour a bit more, if you don't have time just throw them in.

Chop the 4 tomatoes into quarters/half and put them in.

Chop some fresh coriander and add then get the 2 lamb stock cubes and sprinkle them in.

Add a tablespoon of gravy granules & grate some fresh ginger into the mix probably around a tablespoon's worth.

Taste and add more ingredients if necessary, for example chilli to make it more spicy, cardamons and coriander seed for a more aromatic taste, more lemon to get that lovely lemon meat taste etc.

 If you can, remove the skins from the tomatoes and mix together, keep it on the heat till you reach the consistency you want and taste along the way.

Serve with a plain boiled rice. Plain because there is so much flavour in the curry you don't want to take any of that flavour away by using a flavoured rice.

Add some fresh coriander to top it off.

This is Vietnamese coriander, its really nice and aromatic, if you can find some try this otherwise regular coriander will be fine.

Enjoy!

Monkfish Vindaloo

This is one of my favourite Indian fish dishes. Monkfish is such a lovely fish to eat, its really meaty and full of flavour.  This recipe is so quick and easy and perfect for a midweek meal when you do not have a lot of time on your hands.

"In Europe and North America, the texture of the tail meat of fish is sometimes compared to lobster tail and has been alluded to as the "poor man's lobster,"although today it commands prices equivalent to, and in some cases exceeding, lobster and other marine delicacies.

The Monkfish has to be one of the worlds ugliest fishes but also one of the best to eat with a curry & other dishes due to its flavor and texture.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Vegetable oil

1 Large Monkfish tail

2 cans of chopped tomatoes (400g per can)

1 Large onion chopped

2 Medium Chilli chopped

1 Lemon

Methi Leaves (If you have them)

4 Cloves of Garlic minced

Handful of Fresh Coriander + more for serving

Good curry paste (Madras/Vindaloo)

Tablespoon of Garam Masala

Hot chilli powder to taste.

Salt to taste

Method

* Method pictures to be added at a later date

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions  & cook for 5 minutes until soft

2. Next add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute or so

3. Add the Garam Masala and chilli powder for a further minute and mix together.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of curry paste and mix together with the rest of the ingredients in the pan.

5. Add the cans of tomatoes and the juice of one lemon and mix together (At this point you should have a nice chunky tomato curry sauce.

6. Add the methi leaves if you have some then add the fresh chopped coriander including the stalks and cook for 20 minutes on a low simmer.

7. Taste and add salt if required. 

8. Remove the bone from the monkfish tail and and chop into chunks.

9. Add the chunks of monkfish to your sauce for 5 minutes turning occasionally.

10.  Serve with plain boiled rice and some fresh chopped coriander.

The great thing with this dish is that you can can do all the prep work in advance like making the sauce then when you want to eat it its just a matter of heating the sauce and adding the monkfish.

Note - 

If you find the sauce is a bit dry or you want  more liquid just add some water but remember when you add the fish some moisture will come out of the fish into the sauce anyway.

The reason I use plain boiled rice instead of a pilau rice or another kind of rice is because there is some much aromatic flavour already in the curry you don't want to overpower it with a flavoured rice in my opinion.

The Vindaloo part of this recipe can be toned down to your liking, you can have it as hot or as mild as you want,  just change the paste from a madras/vindaloo paste to a mild/medium paste found at all good supermarkets or make your own,  and just don't add as much of the chilli powder.

Enjoy!