My children love meatballs, and one of their favourite dinners would have to be a mountain of mini meatballs with spaghetti, all smothered in a rich tomato sauce. For a quick dinner option, or supper, meatballs make a great pitta-filler, especially when lots of lovely fresh salad leaves are added and a good dollop of your favourite sauce. I've included an easy to make tzatziki recipe here, which pairs deliciously with the meatballs, but a little mayonnaise or, better still, garlic mayo would be perfect in its place.
Ingredients
Meatball Mix
- 450g good-quality minced beef
- Few sprigs of fresh chives, finely snipped
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 large egg, free-range or organic
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Tzatziki
- 200g Greek yogurt
- 1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and grated
- Squeeze of lemon
- 1/2 clove garlic, finely grated
- 1tbsp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
To Serve
4 pittas, lightly toasted
Salad leaves
- Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/ 180°C/gas mark 6.
- Add the minced beef, chives, mustard, tomato ketchup and smoked paprika to a large bowl. Crack in the egg and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. With clean hands, scrunch and mix all the ingredients well.
- Using wet hands roll the mixture into about 16 meatballs. Place them in an oven-proof baking dish. Drizzle with the olive oil and place in the preheated oven, for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until they are golden brown and cooked through. Check by cutting one in half to make sure there are no signs of any pink meat.
- To make the tzatziki, combine the Greek yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic and mint in a bowl and season with a little salt and pepper.
- To assemble, slit open the lightly toasted pittas. Slather a good sized spoonful of the tzatziki inside. Add a handful of salad leaves and stuff in four meatballs to each pitta. Wrap with a napkin and enjoy straight away.
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