Polpettes

bluemoon downunder's Note:

Delicious appetisers made basically with mashed potatoes and feta cheese and flavoured with lemon juice and dill. When I've made these, I've made small appetiser size polpettes, but they could be made larger and served as a delicious side dish with kebabs or any grilled meat or fish. I've adapted this recipe from a recipe I found in 'The Taste of Greece' and I'm posting it for the 2005 Zaar World Tour. I made these probably two years ago, well before discovering Zaar, so although I had made a note of my modifications to the original recipe, I did not make a note of the preparation and cooking times, so what appears below are my guesstimates. All I remember is that they were very easy to make, delicious, devoured with enthusiasm by those to whom I served them, and that I was intrigued that I hadn't previously come across this recipe anywhere else. Nor have I seen it anywhere since then!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 1/4 lbs potatoes
• 4 ounces feta cheese
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground almonds
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• flour, for coating
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Boil the potatoes in their skins in lightly salted water until soft; drain, then peel while still warm; place in a bowl and mash.
2. Crumble the feta cheese into the potatoes and add the spring onion, garlic, dill, ground almonds, egg and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Remember that feta is salty, so taste the mixture before adding the salt. Stir well so that al the ingredients are well combined.
3. Cover the mixture and chill until it is firm; then divide the mixture into walnut-size balls, then flatten them slightly.
4. Lightly coat the polpettes with flour; heat the oil in a pan, preferably non-stick and sauté the polpettes until they are golden brown on both sides.
5. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Reviews

[Sydney Mike]

Made these as appetizers & will definitely make them again for a meal ~ ABSOLUTELY LOVED THESE LITTLE TASTIES, more than anything because of the feta & dill combo! The only change I made was to use lemon pepper in place of the usual S&P! [Tagged, made & reviewed in Please Review My Recipe]

[Len23]

These really didn't do anything for us. I don't know, maybe i was expected too much out of mashed potatoes, but I found them sort of salty and blah and not terribly exciting for the prep work involved. They might be nice as a breakfast addition (ie. like fried potatoes) but for a dinner or appy, didn't rock my socks off.

[kzbhansen]

I had never heard of polpettes before either. These are really good. I used leftover garlic Mashed potatoes for this recipe. I really liked these!! Thanks for sharing!!