Ingredients
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Ingredients for 4 persons
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300 gr. minced beef meatfrom flank, grinned twice
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200 gr. minced pork meatgrinned twice
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150 gr. breadcrumbsfrom stale bread with leaven
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1 big dry oniongrinned
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1 big egg
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50 ml Ouzofrom Mytilene
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1 tsp spearmintdried
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1 tsp οreganodried
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1 tsp cumin
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Sea salt
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Freshly ground pepper
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For the frying
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olive oilor sunflower oil
Narration
Meatballs from Mytilene
Ouzo aromas and tastiness
Mytilene is the island of aromas… It has the taste of ouzo, star anise, honey, olive and olive oil.
It’s the island of olive trees that have millions of roots. It’s famous for its ouzo, the award-winning poems of Nikos Papagiannidis and the products of the woman’s cooperative, that established first on the island and then all over Greece. Their almond bites are a masterpiece just like their sweets.
My lovely friend Stratis cooked some meatballs for me that were amazing . The recipe is truly an emblematic recipe of Greece loved by everyone. There are varied versions of the recipe found all over Greece depending on the local products and their particularities.
The recipe its yours.
Meat balls from Mytilene by Stratis
Steps
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1
Done
10 min.
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In a bowl we add breadcrumbs from the stale bread and add a little bit of chilled water to soak. We let it rest for 10 min. and drain it from water by pressing with our hand. |
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2
Done
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In a bowl we add both kinds of minced meat and knead it so they become one. |
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3
Done
5 min.
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We add bread, onion, egg, ouzo, spearmint, oregano, cumin, little salt and freshly ground pepper. We strongly knead it for 5 min. with our hands so the mixture is homogenized, while turning it so it gets air inside. |
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4
Done
1 hour and 30 min.
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We cover the bowl with a membrane and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour, so the aromas would emerge. When we take it from fridge we let the bowl stay in room temperature for 30 min. before we use it. |
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5
Done
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We knead small sized meatballs or bigger ones according to our taste. But if the meatballs are too big we'd better press them with our hand so we can fry them properly. |
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6
Done
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It's best to have them all around the same size. |
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7
Done
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When the olive oil gets hot we fry them while we lower the heat a bit. |
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8
Done
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With a ladle we turn them on both sides and at the end we place them on a platter with an absorbent paper. |
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9
Done
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We serve them hot and as a side dish we can try a rich green salad or rice or even with fried potatoes "mothers style"... Tzatziki sauce and mustard go really well with them. |
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10
Done
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Little Secrets : i) If there are leftovers of meatballs the next day, rare phenomenon, we can make a nice tomato sauce and place them inside the sauce to boil for a moment... awesome. |
