Middle Eastern Meatballs (Two Ways)

There is nothing better for dinner on a cold night than these deliciously tender meatballs fragrant with middle eastern spices with a tangy lemon sauce. Enjoy them alone or serve on a bed of cous cous, quinoa or rice. For an alternative you can make the meatballs without the sauce and bbq them like small kebabs and serve with hummus, pita and fresh parsley and tomato.

Meatballs

500g mince beef

½ red onion, diced

2 tbspn parsley

2 slices of bread, crusts removed, torn into small pieces

1 egg

zest of ½ a lemon

1 tspn salt

½ tspn cumin

½ tspn cinnamon

½ tspn paprika

½ tspn pepper

Sauce

1 tbspn olive oil

½ red onion finely diced

½ tspn paprika

½ tspn ground turmeric

½ tspn cumin

½ tspn cinnamon

¼ tspn cayenne pepper

1½ cups chicken stock

2 tbspn coriander leaves, chopped

Garnish

handful parsley leaves, finely chopped

handful coriander leaves, finely chopped

juice of half a lemon

preserved lemon (skin only) or lemon zest (both optional)

For meatballs, put onion and parsley in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add bread and egg and pulse again. Add meat, zest and spices and process to a thick paste.

Moisten hands and shape into small ball and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

To make the sauce, heat oil over low heat and slowly cook the onion until soft and golden. Add the spices and stir for a minute. Add the stock and coriander and bring to the boil. Add the meatballs to the pan, gently shaking so the are immersed in the sauce. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Transfer to a platter or bowl, drizzle with lemon juice, scatter over parsley, coriander and preserved lemon or zest if you desire.

Note – if you are making the meatballs to bbq, finely dice the onion and fry it in a tbspn of oil until it is soft and golden. Finely chop the parsley. Omit the bread. And mix everything in a bowl by hand instead using a food processor. Moisten hands to roll the mixture into balls, small patties or kebab shapes and refrigerate for at least 30 mins before putting them on a well oiled bbq.

Slow Cooked Chilli Brisket

I won’t lie, this is not a dinner to make when you only have half an hour until dinner time. It needs a long time to cook, the longer the better. It is however, a great dish to make it the morning and leave on the stove or in a slow cooker all day. The brisket literally falls apart it is so tender, and the spices, vegies and tomato all meld into each other to make a wonderful sauce. This is great in winter as a stew served over polenta, rice or mash, but I love it most in summer, served in tortillas with guacamole and loads of fresh coriander to cut through the richness. I got the idea from a Jamie Oliver recipe but changed it to suits my tastes so much that it has become altogether different.

1 -1.5 kg piece of beef brisket (ask your butcher to score it across and down so it looks like a checker board)

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tbspn smoked paprika

1 tbspn cumin

1 tspn ground coriander

1 tspn cinnamon

½ tspn cayenne pepper

3 tbspn olive oil

1 tin chopped tomatoes

4 ripe tomatoes, chopped (you can substitute with another can of tomatoes)

1 cup of beef or vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

1 heaped tspn brown sugar

2 tbspns balsamic vinegar

2 red onions thinly sliced

2-3 capsicums (red, orange or yellow) cut up into strips

½ bunch coriander

2 chillies, split

Season the brisket well and rub with the spices. Heat a large fry pan to medium, add olive oil and sear the brisket til brown and juicy. Meanwhile in a heavy saucepan or slow cooker, add tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, sugar, vinegar, capsicums and coriander and bring to the boil.

Once brisket is done, put it in the tomato sauce. Then fry the onions and chillies in the pan that the brisket was in and once they are tender, add to the tomato/brisket pot. Put the lid on the pot, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 5-7 hours (the longer the better). Check occasionally to make sure the meat is immersed in the sauce. When it is ready the brisket should fall apart when you pick it up.

Use tongs and a fork to get the meat out and shred it. Ladle on some veggies and sauce and either serve with rice, or top tortillas with guacamole and brisket and fresh coriander and roll up to eat. Be warned, you will need lots of serviettes!

Thai Style Beef Salad

Fresh, fast, fabulous. A perfect meal any time of day. Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients in the salad, you can use whatever you have and chop and change to your taste and it will still be gorgeous.

For the best results, take your meat out of the fridge at least one hour, (preferably two) before you cook it so it is close to room temperature and rest it on a cake cooling rack rather than on a plate so it can get air from all sides.

handful of baby spinach

2 carrots, julienned

2 sticks celery, finely sliced

½ red pepper, finely sliced

½ yellow pepper, finely sliced

1 red chili, finely sliced

large handful coriander, leaves only

small handful mint leaves

½ punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

½ avocado, sliced

big handful raw chashews

2 eye fillet steaks

salt and pepper

olive oil

dressing

juice of 1 lime

2 tbspn olive oil

1 tspn light soy sauce

1 tspn balsamic vinegar

Heat a non stick fry pan to medium heat and toast the cashews until they begin to brown, turning frequently. Set cashews aside. Heat the same pan to maximum temperature. Rub the steaks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sear the steaks, turning every 15 seconds until cooked to your liking (3-4 minutes total for average thickness steaks for medium doneness). Allow the steaks to rest (preferably on a cooling rack for 5 minutes) then slice.

Combine all ingredients for salad. Add cashews. Mix together dressing, pour over and toss to combine. Top with slices of steak.

Double Lamb Chops with Rosemary and Dijon Mustard

I made this for dinner the other night and my husband told me it was better than any lamb he had ever had in a restaurant. We have eaten at some pretty wonderful restaurants, so I took that as a huge compliment. The double chops are brilliant because you get a crispy outside but a rare and succulent inside. You can play around with the marinade as well – add lemon zest or capers for some zing, or the honey or jam for sweetness. I like to sear the lamb in an oven proof dish on the stove and then transfer the whole thing to the oven to finish off the cooking process.

2 rack of lamb cut into double chops and frenched (ask your butcher to do this) - this works out to be about 6 double chops

3 tbspn finely chopped rosemary

3 tbspn olive oil

1 tbspn soy

1 tbspn Dijon mustard

1 tbspn honey or plum jam (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Using a teaspoon, rub some marinade on the meaty part of the lamb, and place lamb and any left over marinade in a snap lock bag. Allow to marinate for at least an hour if you have time and up to overnight. Make sure the meat is at room temperature before you start cooking. Heat a non stick pan/griddle or the bbq to high heat. Sear the lamb on each side and on the top for a minute or two or until browned and starting to crisp. Transfer to an oven dish and bake for 7 minutes for medium rare.

Spiced Lamb Backstrap

This is super quick way to boost your iron intake for the day. It takes two minutes to prepare and less than five minutes to cook. Best of all, there is only one dish to wash up!

2 lamb backstrap (400g)

2 tbspn olive oil

2 tbspn red wine vinegar

1 tspn cinnamon

½ tspn ground coriander

½ tspn cayenne pepper

½ tspn cumin seeds

1 tspn paprika

½ tspn salt

Put oil, vinegar and spices in a snap lock bag. Add lamb and marinate for as much time as you have. Bring the lamb to room temperature. Heat a non stick frying pan to high. Sear lamb and turn every 15 seconds for about 4 minutes of until cooked to your liking. Rest for 5 minutes on a rack and then slice up.