Greek Meatballs, Feta Yogurt Sauce and Lemon Couscous

SarasotaCook's Note:

Yummy, a whole different way to eat meatballs. No Italian sauce, but a creamy Feta sauce and lemon couscous to serve everything over versus pasta. It really is great and honestly doesn't take long. Couscous as you know takes 5 minutes. I make the dressing ahead and you are only left with the meatballs which you can actually make ahead, refrigerate or freeze and then make later. A salad on the side with a lemon vinaigrette and fresh tomatoes and dinner. Can't get much easier. Give it a try, you will love it if you enjoy greek flavors like me.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 4.0

Dressing

• ½ cup feta cheese
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• 1⁄8; cup half-and-half
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• salt (go easy, feta is salty)
• pepper

Lemon Couscous

• ¾ cup couscous
• ¾ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup lemon juice (fresh)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Meatballs

• ½ lb ground lamb
• ½ ground beef
• ¼ cup feta cheese
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup parsley
• 2 scallions , diced fine (white and green parts)
• salt
• pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons olive oil , to saute

Meatball Sauce

• ¾ cup kalamata olive (cut in half)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes , just plain no seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon fresh parsley

Garnish

• 1 cup diced cucumber
• 1 lemon , sliced

Directions:

1. Sauce -- Mix the feta, yogurt, half and half, salt and pepper and lemon juice. Set to the side in a small bowl and refrigerate. Done!
2. Couscous -- As I said takes literally 5 minutes to boil, stir in couscous and it's done. Don't worry about that until the dinner is done. Although you can put a pot on the stove with the broth, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and put the couscous in a measuring cup on the side, just so it is all ready.
3. Cucumber and Lemon -- Now I use a English (or seedless cucumber and just dice it up and set to the side (it's done). Same with slicing the lemon. One less thing to do at the end of the meal.
4. Meatballs -- Simply in a large bowl, add the feta, milk, parsley, scallions, egg, oregano, salt and pepper. I mix everything well and then add the meat last. You don't want to over mix the meat as it can make it tough. Just mix enough to be combined. Roll into golf ball size meatballs.
5. Saute -- Just heat up the olive oil in a large saute pan on medium high and cook them until golden brown. Remove to a plate while you make the sauce.
6. Sauce -- In the same pan with the drippings from the meatballs, add the olives, garlic and red pepper and cook just a minute. then stir in the tomatoes, oregano and parsley and cook just another minute to heat up. Add the meatballs back in to finish cooking. They will take approximately 5-10 minutes depending on the size. Just keep them on a low simmer.
7. Couscous -- As the meatballs finish, cook the couscous. Just bring the broth, lemon, olive oil and seasoning up to a boil. Add the couscous, stir and remove from the heat and cover. Use foil, a lid, saran wrap, a plate, or anything you have will work just fine. Just let it set for 5 minutes and it is done.
8. Serve -- Use a fork to fluff the couscous and then just spoon some on your plate. Top with 2-3 of the meatballs and some of the tomato and olive sauce, and now the good part. Finish with a spoon of the yogurt sauce over the meatballs and some diced cucumber and then squeeze the lemon.
9. And trust me -- now you have a totally amazing dish.

Reviews

[Meredith C-ville]

Another very good recipe. I had to use all beef for the meatballs, which I made a day ahead. I wondered how well they'd stay together with no starch and with all the good stuff in them, but that did not turn out to be a problem. I even just dropped my raw meatballs into the simmering sauce without pre-browning, and they still stayed together. You couldn't tell that there was feta in them once they were cooked, but they had a more interesting flavor which probably comes from that. I did not add any salt to my dressing. I subbed millet for the couscous just to have a whole grain (same texture); I cooked it in my rice cooker with the broth and lemon juice and some extra water for the necessary moisture. I sauteed about 5 cloves of garlic in the pan before adding the other sauce ingredients. I got 33 ~1-inch meatballs out of the mix and froze half for the future. We still used almost all of both sauces with just half the meatballs. At the end I sprinkled only a tiny amount of lemon juice over the cukes because I thought there would be enough lemon already in the other sauce. It was a very nice mix of textures, temperatures, and flavors. And it looks intimidating with all the parts, but they are each very easy to make, and much can be made ahead. The biggest challenge is remembering to add all the parts when serving! Thanks.