Minty Meatballs
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I wanted to make something with the ground beef that I had in the freezer, and when I saw that this recipe used cooked quinoa instead of breadcrumbs, I just had to try it out. These meatballs have lots of great flavor! I love all of the fresh herbs in there, and the quinoa helped make them nice and fluffy. The addition of allspice in the meat was really nice, too. With flavors like this, I love having something like mast o khiar to go with it, so I mixed some greek yogurt, chopped cucumber, dried mint and a good pinch of salt together, and scooped it up with each bite of meatball. It was great! It would be nice wrapped in a pita as a sandwich, too.
Minty Meatballs
SELF June 2013
Makes 24 meatballs
These are fairly large and entrée-sized. If you want them smaller, reduce the cook time by a few minutes.
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (85 percent lean)
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup 1 percent milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Parchment paper
In a bowl, mix together all ingredients until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, up to 24 hours. Heat oven to 425°F. Form meat mixture into 24 oval balls (about 3 tablespoons each). Arrange on 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 8 minutes; turn and bake 10 minutes more. Garnish with parsley if desired; serve.
Per 3 meatballs: 231 calories, 14 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 7 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 18 g protein
Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars
Ashley
Ashley Covelli is a food photographer, recipe developer, and culinary instructor based in Ossining, New York. She loves helping people become enthusiastic and adventurous in the kitchen so that they can build skills and confidence to cook for themselves and their loved ones. She can almost always be found with at least 3 different beverages within arm's reach.
