Hi Everyone!
It’s Friday + it finally feels like SPRING on the East Coast, which is plenty of reason to celebrate!
Today, I’m sharing one of my all-time favorite comfort food recipes with you, total soul food. These Mediterranean Meatballs are full of fresh herbs like mint and cilantro, flavorful spices, and plenty of garlic! They can’t really be compared to their Italian cousins, although I do LOVE classic spaghetti and meatballs. I make them all time, and I love serving them for Friday night Shabbat dinner, because they’re a huge crowd pleaser.
Traditionally, all of the Jewish mothers and grandmothers would brown the “ktzitzot,” meatballs in Hebrew, in a skillet before submerging them into the sauce to simmer. This is a delicious method, no doubt, and delivers lots of rich meaty flavor. I used to do it. But sometimes, I just don’t feel like dealing with the splatter, or have the patience to fry them in batches. So now, I bake them! I find that baking at a high temperature (475*) for about 16-18 mins browns them beautifully, without drying them out. Problem solved.
A note on canned tomatoes: I always buy WHOLE PEELED Plum Tomatoes (Cento brand is my fav), because I learned that canned whole tomatoes are fresher, and the cream-of-the-crop so to speak, delivering deeper tomatoey flavor. I crush them up using my clean hands, an immersion blender, or a handheld potato masher. A little extra effort is worth it.
I usually serve these meatballs with mashed potatoes or rice to soak up all of the rich tomato sauce. Seriously consider making a double batch, because the leftovers are to die for, and the flavor is even better the next day!
*PS. If you have a food processor, feel free to use it to chop up the herbs, garlic, and onions – great timesaver! But don’t process the meat or the eggs. This will break the meat up too much.
**You can sub matzo meal for the breadcrumbs to make this recipe Kosher for Passover 🙂
All Beef Mediterranean Meatballs
Super flavorful, juicy meatballs in a rich tomato sauce. Easy to make family favorite!
Ingredients
- MEATBALLS:
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 c onion, chopped fine
- 4 large garlic cloves, chopped fine
- 3/4 c parsley, chopped
- 1/2 c cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 c fresh mint, chopped
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 3 T breadcrumbs
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- SAUCE:
- 1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes (I like Cento brand)
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 medium garlic cloves, chopped
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 475*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or aluminum foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
- Step 2 In a large mixing bowl, combine the onions, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and mint. Mix thoroughly.
- Step 3 Add the eggs, breadcrumbs, cumin, turmeric, paprika, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly, making sure that the egg is well blended and that there are no lumps of spices.
- Step 4 Add the ground beef to the bowl, and using your clean hands, gently combine the beef with the herb/spice mixture. With wet hands, roll into 1.5″ balls, and place on prepared baking sheet. You should get about 18-20 total.
- Step 5 Bake for 16-18 minutes.
- Step 6 While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce. In a large, deep skillet, combine the olive oil and chopped onions over medium heat, until golden brown, stirring occasionally.
- Step 7 Add the garlic, cumin, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute.
- Step 8 Empty the tomatoes and all of the juice from the can into a medium sized bowl. With your extremely clean hands, SQUISH the tomatoes really well to break them up. Pour all of the tomatoes and juice into the skillet, and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Step 9 Remove the meatballs from the oven, and lower the oven temperature to 325*F. Place the partially cooked meatballs into the sauce skillet, nestling them down into the sauce. Cover the skillet with a lid or tightly wrapped aluminum foil, and place back in the oven to bake for 40 minutes.
- Step 10 Garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley, and serve with your favorite mashed potatoes or rice.
- Step 11 Enjoy! Remember to comment below to let me know how yours turn out, and tag your photos with #lionsbread !
Lynette Shor says
You have to make these! They will be a “go to” & on a nice soft roll, they also make a great sandwich too…