Recipe Review Lamb & Feta Balls pge 42 Quick Fix in the TMX

[judydawn]

Was a little disappointed in these and DH left 2 out of the 4 I gave him.  It is so hard to write a review about something you didn't like.  I asked DH what he would say - 'they fell apart and I just didn't like the taste'.  I had handled them with care to prevent them falling apart during cooking but once you cut into them they did just that. Maybe there was too much feta, don't know - just can't put my finger on it.
I served them on rice with marinara sauce which I had in the freezer plus fresh corn, pancetta & chives from the same book which was the star of this meal.

[JulieO]

What a shame Judy, it looks tasty regardless.  Meatballs can be a bit hit and miss IMO and I just can't abide big balls, only bite size. 

[judydawn]

To use up the leftover Lamb/feta balls, we had them heated in a french stick for lunch and for tea I made a pizza using them, a bit of the Corn, pancetta & chive recipe on page 78, mushrooms, spinach and a light sprinkling of mozzarella.  Both meals were really nice - better than the original recipe so not sorry I made it now 

[alyce alexandra]

Thanks for the feedback Judy! After careful experiment I think the problem may have been the type of feta used. Was it a dry crumbly feta (like Greek)? It is possible this type of cheese could overpower the dish and lead to that dry texture.

For anyone wishing to make this dish in the future I would recommend a softer, more subtle feta such as goats milk feta.

[judydawn]

Alyce, I used Margaret River Australian Feta - there are so many I never know which is the right one to use.
All's well that ends well though and we had 3 meals from 1/2 a batch of your recipe.

[alyce alexandra]

I haven't tried that one so cannot comment on the flavour! Sounds nice though.

Excellent to hear Judy, glad you make the dish work for you!

[Greyhoundmum]

Stumbled across this review as I want to make these tomorrow.  I note your comment JD about the meatballs. I have similar type feta so I am wondering if a little cream cheese mixed in with them may make them a little stickier?  Anyone else made these??

[Tasty]

I would like to make these and am thinking of using some danish feta which I already have.......it seems creamier....what do you think?

Also was wondering if I can bake these as I prefer that to frying as less messy. Would it work like that and any recommendations for time and temp?

[EmeraldSue]

Tasty, I'd try the Danish feta or you could try Hally's recipe for lamb and fetta burgers which is one of my favourite recipes on the forum.
If you want to bake them, I'd try cooking them for 20 minutes in a moderate oven, but check them after 15 minutes. It really depends on how big you make them - I cooked some chicken meatballs this week for 20 minutes and they were perfect

[Tasty]

So I made these yesterday - fried most and baked a few to see the difference. Thanks for the advice EmeraldSue - it was perfect! I did have to make a few adjustments as I went along. Firstly I would suggest to cut the lamb up in 2cm pieces (not sure if people would do this anyway). Mine didn't mince up well and had lots of large chunks. I was thinking I should've partially frozen it but it was too late for that so I divided the already cut up mixture in thirds and blitzed each portion again for about 3 seconds. Much better results but more of a pasty mince, if that makes sense.

It also says to chop the cheese (I used danish feta as it's soft), garlic spring onions, prunes and rosemary together but I found a whole clove of garlic after doing that. I would do the garlic, spring onions and rosemary first (I had prechopped the rosemary) then add the cheese and prunes later and chop.

Finally when you mix all the ingredients together I find the cheese mixture tends to stay at the bottom so had to scrape down and mix again on Speed 3 to get it all the combine.

It smelt divine by the end of this mixing process and just as nice when cooking in the oven. I think I preferred the taste of the them from the oven but the fried ones were great too but didn't look as good as the ones in the photo in the book. I used regular plain flour to coat and rice bran oil to fry in.

They are a lovely light meatball. I found mine held together very well so I think JD probably didn't use the right cheese and that's why they fell apart. I'm not sure if I like the prunes being in there but hubby liked it like this.

Here is a photo with a couple cut up so you can see the texture inside:

[judydawn]

They look lovely Tasty, are they as nice cold as hot?

[Tasty]

I can't really say I had them cold. Also not sure if I would make these again due to all the different ingredients needed but if I do, I will bake them next time as less messy, you don't have to stand overt them and they taste just as lovely that way.

[Tasty]

Ok so I was looking for a late night snack and since you commented about what cold meatballs were like...I thought I'd choose to have them. And my verdict....still nice cold. Prune taste doesn't seem to come through as much but can taste pine nuts etc.

[judydawn]

The reason I asked is that I used to make Greek meatballs and they were lovely cold.  In fact our Greek neighbours back in the 60's used to have this on the buffet at their parties, usually a big plate of potato salad surrounded by meatballs.  As an aside, the DH used to ply us all with Jack Collins cocktails which were delicious.  They were great parties 

[Tasty]

Yes Greek meatballs are great but I haven't yet worked out how to make them as good as the ones I've tasted. And usually when Greeks have parties there is always plenty of food!!