Feta and Eggplant Meatballs with Tzatziki

I loved, loved, loved this dish!

I love meatballs because they're a quick and easy dinner for kids, not that my fussy kids always eat them, but if I offer meatballs to my kids I feel like I've made a good effort at getting decent food into them. I usually grate carrot and zucchini into my meatballs and cook them in a Tuscan sauce with rosemary and oregano and tomatoes. Not so that's its rich, but flavoursome.

Usually having a tomato based sauce with meatballs, I was excited to try these as I wanted to know how the creamy Tzatziki would go with them. And I love eggplant. I love anything with eggplant in it. And Feta. So I already knew these would be a win.

Make sure you use young eggplant or you'll need to salt (degorge) them before cooking to draw out the excess moisture and stop them from being bitter.

A friend asked for the recipe for these after I posted a photo on my Instagram account, so here it is:

Feta and Eggplant Meatballs
 
You'll need:
400g eggplant, finely chopped
2 tbs Olive Oil
500g Beef mince
1/3 cup chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley
1/3 cup chopped Mint
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 tbs finely grated Lemon Rind
200g Feta, crumbled
Sea Salt and fresh cracked Black Pepper
1 tbs Olive Oil, extra
Lemon Wedges, to serve

Method:
Prehead the oven to 180C. Place the eggplant and oil on a baking tray and toll to coat. Roast for 30 Min or till golden. Remove and allow to cool.
Place the eggplant, mince, parsley, mint, garlic, lemon rind, feta, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir until well combined. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Place the extra oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the balls and cook for 3 - 4 minutes or till browned. Place on a baking tray and cook for 5 - 6 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with Tzatziki and lemon wedges.

I halved this recipe and it still made heaps of meatballs. 

 Tzatziki

What you'll need:
 2 cups (560g) thick Greek-style natural yoghurt (I just used Natural Yoghurt as that's what I had in the fridge)
1 Lebanese Cucumber, grated
2 tbs chopped Mint
1 clove Garlic, crushed
1 tbs Honey
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Sea Salt and cracked White Pepper

Method:
Place the yoghurt, cucumber, mint, garlic, honey, cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine.

I made half of the Tzatziki recipe also, and it was great and so refreshing. Went soooooo well with the meatballs. I grated the cucumber with a really fine grater and squeezed the excess liquid out of them before adding them to the yoghurt or the dish would've been really runny. For a first Tzatziki, it tasted awesome.

This would make great party food too. A toothpick in the meatballs for individual serves. Easy peasy and so tasty!!

Spinach and Feta Pies

I'm a big fan of the spinach and feta combo. It always makes me feel like I'm eating something really healthy and I'm not bloated and super full afterwards. I've been thinking about making these pies for a little while now so finally remembered to buy some filo at my last shop and made them last week.

So so so so easy. Mixing together some spinach, feta, an egg and some orange rind (recipe calls for lemon rind but I only had an orange and I figured it'd still give that zesty fresh feel) with some mint in a bowl. Brush three sheets of filo with melted butter and layer them together. Cut to the size of the small tart tin, insert the filo, fill with the spinach mix, brush with a beaten egg and bake till golden.

Yum!

Feta with Crispy Bread and Salad

If you're looking for a light lunch, this is it. It's so light and Summery and would serve as a great appetizer before a nice big dinner. And oh so easy.

After grilling some fresh Bruschetta, top it with Feta, Salad leaves, Parmesan, Salt and Pepper and Olive Oil.

See, told you it was easy.

It has a light salty taste from the cheeses and the crunchy toasted bread gives the added texture. Not to mention the oil soaks right in and mixes with the feta. Yum.

Try it next time you're in need of a quick but tasty lunch idea!!

Pumpkin, Spinach and Goats Cheese Pie

I've been looking forward to making this pie for a while now. I love all of these flavor combinations together and wrapped in pastry is a nice crunch heaven compared to the softness of the roast pumpkin and smooth cheese. 

The main vegetables are roasted first then piled onto some good store-bought puff before being topped with spinach and goats cheese. Good luck buying goats cheese in Dysart. I used a good Feta instead. 

Tasting the vegetables after roasting them they tasted awesome. It's amazing what oil and seasoning can do to some pumpkin. But something seemed to go wrong between that roasting and when the pie was finished... The cut pie slice tasted...bland. There was no sweetness from the pumpkin or tang from the feta. I thought about the pumpkin I used and wonder how old the vegetable was in the first place, and now I wonder if that impacted on the end result? Knowing the vegetables we get out here have mostly been frozen and are mostly in poor condition, I don't know how much that impacts on the flavor at the end of baking when half way through it tasted so good.

Or it could be the quantity? Not enough pumpkin maybe? Or a stronger tasting one might have been better? Either way, its a nice simple dish and definitely one I'm going to try again. I already know these flavors work well together, I just need to tweak it a bit...

Pumpkin and Feta Loaf

I'm not a bread maker. I think I've made bread a few times in total, so I'm not that good at it. But I am good at following a recipe...

My yeast was past its 'use by' date, so I wasn't sure if this loaf would actually work. To my pleasant surprise, it did! I really liked the way the onion and rosemary were processed with the wet ingredients, I found the mild onion taste through the bread really complimented the sweetness of the pumpkin. But a warning, buy cheap feta, and the feta will be...well....cheap. The local iga does sell better feta (say that out loud!) but for an extortionate price out here. I didn't expect the cheaper version to be so bad, but it was. Rubbery and quite tasteless. But I did enjoy the bread, so if I made it again, I'd splurge and buy the good quality stuff.

The only down side was cutting it the next day it became quite crumbly. Probably cos of my old yeast. Or my average cooking schools. But, even in crumbs, it still tasted nice.