by Cat Cora- from Cat Cora’s Kitchen
Keftethakia Kai Pita
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 slices white bread with crust
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh oregano or other fresh herbs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
flour for dusting
1/4 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil
6 rounds of pita bread, cut into quarters
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with aluminum foil.
Place the ground beef in a large bowl. In another bowl, pour the milk over the bread slices and allow to soak for 2 minutes, then squeeze out the excess milk. Crumble up the bread and add it to the beef. Add the onion, garlic, mint, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well. Add the egg, olive oil, and vinegar, and mix again.
Roll the mixture into walnut sized portions and dust with flour. Once all the meatballs are formed, heart the vegetable oil in a large saute pan over high heat until hot but not smoking. Reduce the heat to medium and add the meatballs. Brown on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes, and drain on paper towels. Transfer to the prepared dish and bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Serve with several quarters of the pita bread on each plate, then stuff the pita with meatballs and top with Tzatziki.
I also love greeek food. Yum to feta cheese.
I would love to try these tomorrow but I don’t have any bread in the house. Oh well. I will try in a few days then.
Hmm, I am going to see if my library has that book.
Thanks,
anonymous- do you have oatmeal? I think you could get away with about 1/4 cup of oatmeal soaked in milk in place of the bread.
Let me know if you make them!
These sound delicious! Do you suppose that you could lightly spray them with oil and bake them a bit longer rather than frying them? If the oven is at 400 degrees F they would probably brown enough that way. What do you think?
Absolutely, they could be baked. I don’t even think you’d need to spray them first. Simply spray or oil the pan you put them into and away you go with them. Also, if you’re interested in reducing the fat content a bit, I also reduced the oil in the meatball. It called for 1/4 cup, and I used about a tablespoon instead. Worked just fine.