I was overjoyed to discover there was a Leon on my “doorstep” – Bluewater to be precise. Well it’ s not in London, so that’s a start. The family and I went there and tried out a bunch of things. It was little unconventional but healthy, hearty and good fun. The hands-down dish of the day was the meatballs, who have been praised by all sorts, including some Gordon Ramsay chap.
I was ecstatic to discover the recipe on the Guardian website. Trying it myself, it was a recipes of ups and downs. The sauce was a disaster, calling for 1½ tablespoons of harissa. Even taking it down to a teaspoon was still volcanic. Maybe I possess the hottest harissa on the planet, I don’t know. The sauce was ruined though, burning hot. The meatballs themselves was lovely though – the clever bit is torn-up soggy pitta breads, giving a earthy, toasted flavour that’d be really hard to put your finger on if you didn’t know what was in them.
So meatballs = yes, sauce = no.
(Incidentally, the leftovers made for a mean moussaka the following week topped with grilled aubergine and bechamel!)
Want more ideas for leftovers? Or what to cook with the things lurking at the back of your fridge? Check out Gumbo, a recipe search engine that I recently discovered. Gumbo helps you discover new recipes using the ingredients you have in your kitchen, thereby reducing your food waste. What a great way to make the most with what you already have.
Leon meatballs
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 6 pitta breads
- 120 ml milk
- 1 kg minced lamb
- A small bunch of parsley finely chopped
- A small handful of mint finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
For the sauce
- 30 ml olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic crushed
- 2 x 800g tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon harissa
- A handful of basil chopped
- A handful of parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Rip the flatbread into pieces and soak in the milk for 10 minutes. Then put the bread into a mixing bowl, add the mince and stir in the parsley, mint, oregano, garlic and some seasoning.
- Mix well, then roll the mixture into walnut-sized balls.
- On a griddle pan, brown the balls quickly - it's all about colouring them and not cooking them through ... five minutes total cooking time with about three turns on the griddle.
- To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and gently fry the crushed garlic. Tip in the chopped tomatoes and harissa and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the sauce has reduced. Put in the meatballs and continue to simmer for a further 20 minutes with a lid on until the sauce looks about right.
- Lastly, stir in the herbs and have a final seasoning check.
