Soutzoukakia (Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce)

-Sylvie-'s Note:

This was posted for the Zaar World Tour 2005. You will often fins cinnamon used in Greek meat dishes, and this is one of them. Nice with rice.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

For the soutzoukakia

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 1 cup white bread , soaked in the wine
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup olive oil
• flour
• pepper , to taste
• salt , to taste

For the sauce

• 2 cups tomatoes , peeled and chopped
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• wine (reserved from soaking the bread)
• 1 teaspoon butter
• pepper , to taste
• salt , to taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• ½-1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. For the meatballs, mix the ground beef, garlic, cumin, white wine, bread (squeeze out the wine and reserve to be used in the sauce) and egg.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Shape into approximately 30 sausage shaped patties, roll in flour and fry in oil until cooked through.
4. Remove from pan, set aside on a plate covered with paper towels.
5. For the sauce, bring the tomatoes stock and butter to a boil.
6. Add the wine and the seasoning and simmer until sauce beginns to thicken.
7. When the sauce starts to thicken, add the soutzoukakias and simmer for a further ten minutes.

Reviews

[Susie D]

I enjoyed this dish alot. I mixed half ground turkey and half ground beef. I used the 1/2 t. of cinnamon. Loved the addition of cumin seeds. Thanks Sylvie!

[currybunny]

This was certainly very easy to make and my hubby liked them a lot. They just weren't to my taste, but that's just a personal thing and I'm probably biased from all the soutzoukakia I've had in the past! But this was a very quick weeknight dinner and fun to make - thanks for posting!

[Kaarin]

A delicious dish with interesting flavor-the cinnamon went great with the tomatoes! I didn't have cumin seeds, so used 1/2 tsp. ground cumin and also added 1/2 tsp. of sugar to the sauce. Since I didn't start the sauce soon enough, I added cornstarch/water to thicken more quickly. That also gave us more sauce, which we like. I think this would be really good with half pork (I used ground venison), although it's really good as written. I'm going to use this recipe often, thanks for sharing!