Oven Baked Greek Style Meatballs with Orzo and Veggies
On the Greek island of Corfu, meatballs are traditionally served with fragrant rice. Mimi has mixed them up with an Italian twist of orzo, which is a rice shaped pasta - a perfect accompaniment to both hot or cold dishes (makes great leftovers for lunch!).
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
Ingredients
2
Onion
2
Garlic Clove
4
Vine Tomatoes
2
Courgette
(May contain Celery)
1
Mint
6
Oregano
500
Lamb Mince
2
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains Cereals containing gluten)
1.5
Orzo
(Contains Cereals containing gluten May contain Soya, Egg)
2
Feta Cheese
(Contains Milk)
Nutritional information
Utensils
Instructions
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. Peel and chop half the onion into 2cm pieces and finely chop the other half. Peel and finely chop the garlic and roughly chop the tomatoes into 3cm pieces. Cut the courgette in half lengthways, cut in half lengthways again to create four strips and then chop into batons about 2cm wide and the length of your index finger. Finely chop the mint. Pull the oregano leaves off their stalks and finely chop.
Add a drizzle of oil to a frying pan on medium heat and add in your finely chopped onion. Cook for 4 mins and then add your chopped garlic and cook for another minute. Take off the heat.
Put the lamb mince in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, half your chopped mint, your cooked onion and garlic, a good pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix together with your hands, then shape your mixture into balls (four per person).
Put the rest of your chopped onion along with your tomatoes and courgette in a deep baking dish, drizzle over a glug of oil, your chopped oregano, a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper and give everything a good shake. Add your meatballs to the dish as well and then put in your oven to cook for 25 mins.
In the meantime, bring a pot of water to the boil with a pinch of salt. 10 mins before your veggies and meatballs are done, add the orzo to your boiling water and cook for 8-9 mins until your orzo is ‘al dente’. Tip: ‘Al dente’ simply means that the orzo is cooked through but has a slight hint of firmness left in the middle. When your orzo is cooked, drain.
When your veggies and meatballs are cooked, get them out of your oven. Add your drained orzo to the dish and stir through, then scatter on your remaining mint and crumble the feta over the top.
Serve in bowls and enjoy!
