The other day I convinced Miss 4 to have a sleep.  She was going to be having a playdate in the afternoon and I knew she wouldn’t cope without it.  The other benefit: Master 2 was at preschool.  Enough said: kid free for 1 hour.

I flicked on the tv and started watching Everyday Gourmet with Justine Schofield.  I don’t normally watch it- but was pleasantly surprised.  She made this recipe:  Mini Chicken meatballs and yoghurt bake.   I don’t really like chicken mince, but I could immediately imagine potential for this recipe with a few tweaks to flavours and ingredients. If you like chicken mince, go with the original!

These freeze really well in the sauce in an oven proof container and can be reheated in the oven very easily. The recipe makes enough for two dinners, so save one for a can’t be bothered night and just cook some veggies.

One of the ingredients I immediately wanted to swap was the breadcrumbs in the recipe that Justine had, and I’m very glad that the use of quinoa worked and made them even more flavourful.  The benefit of making something like this is that you can remove the sauce easily if it disagrees with the child in question.  These little meatballs are so scrummy with or without the sauce, so I’m forgiving Master 2 for eating them without!

Lamb meatballs in yoghurt sauce

Yield: 32 meatballs

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Lamb meatballs in yoghurt sauce

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Ingredients

• Meatballs
• 600 grams lean lamb mince
• 300 grams fetta, crumbled
• 3/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
• 1.5 cups flaked quinoa
• olive oil
• 3 eggs, whisked (use half in the meatballs)
• Sauce
• 750 mls greek yoghurt
• 2 additional egg yolks
• use the other half of the eggs
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
2. Combine the lamb mince, crumbled fetta, mint, quinoa and 1.5 eggs in a bowl and mix with your hands until well and truly combined.
3. Roll double teaspoonfuls of the mix in your hands to make the meatballs.
4. Add 4 tablespoons of the oil to a frypan over medium/high heat.
5. Fry the meatballs in batches to brown them completely and seal in the flavour.
6. In a jug whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, yoghurt and red wine vinegar.
7. Pour over the meatballs.
8. Bake at 200 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden.
9. Makes approx 32 meatballs, I have divided this over two dishes with the goal of freezing one dish.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 32 Serving Size: 1 piece
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 97Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 81mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 10g

This nutrition information is generated using software. Please check with a nutritionist for any specific questions.

And here they are the only way Master 2 would touch them: sauce scraped off!