the review: Greek Meatballs with Corn and Zucchini orzo salad

I did not want to make dinner tonight. This should not be a revelation to you. I suspect you didn’t want to make dinner either. Some nights are worse than others, don’t you agree? But I soldiered on tonight, with the help of several sous-chefs (thank you Lacie, Rob, and Sam), and am so glad I did because dinner was delicious.

Tonight, we made Greek meatballs, a tried and true recipe in our house, with corn and zucchini orzo salad. I think the salad is meant to be a summer dish. No matter. Just use frozen corn.

Back to the meatballs. I have made these probably four times and always grilled them. I just realized tonight that the recipe actually calls for the meatballs to be broiled. Oh, and I’ve worn my pants inside out to my last two Pilates classes without noticing. So there’s that. Anyway, this is a recipe that is made from a beef and pork mixture that we’ve previously discussed here and here. I double and freeze the beef mixture so that I can pull it out and make awesome (read: simple and tasty) things like meatballs. It helps to add the appropriate ingredients to the grocery list when you send your husband to the store on Sunday. It also helps to not live in the sticks where the grocery stores run out of basic things like fresh basil. I digress.

The meatballs are very simple. Very simple. Throw a little fresh oregano, feta, and dried red pepper into your meat mix. Make meatballs. Put them on a greased cookie sheet and broil for eight to ten minutes. That's it.

They shrink a little bit. Oh, yeah. And you are supposed to put the meatballs on a skewer. This part made total sense to me when I thought the recipe called for grilling the meatballs. I mean, you don’t want them to break and fall through the cracks of the grill, right? But now that I know that you can (and are, in fact, supposed to) just put these babies in your broiler, I don’t understand why you would want to take the extra time to skewer them. Better presentation? Maybe. But from now on, I’m going skewerless.

There is a quick sauce that goes with the meatballs and is excellent with a little pita bread. I am not one for sauces but I am in favor of yogurt, cucumber, lemon and mint. Make the sauce. You can do it while your meatballs broil. It’s that easy.

Now, onto the orzo salad. I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but I didn’t read the details of the recipe again until last night. I thought it a little strange that the recipe called for six zucchini. For six people? That sounds a bit much. You are apparently supposed to take the leftovers of this dish and make a frittata. Ahhh! And there are a lot of leftovers.

I went with four zucchini and reduced the corn down to about three cups (a one pound bag of frozen corn). I also cooked the zucchini a bit with the corn and added a bit dried basil while it cooked (since my local market had no fresh).

Once the zucchini and corn were cooked, I mixed everything as directed but substituted fresh mint for the fresh basil.

Delicious. I think I will try that frittata later this week instead of the earlier scheduled pizza.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to prep tomorrow’s advent craft and mini pizzas for the preschool Christmas party. I know. You are so jealous.