Harissa Lamb Meatballs with a Veg-filled Pasta Sauce #FamilyFavourite | AD

22nd December 2019

We love sitting down together as a family and enjoying a meal together. Food is a big (BIG!) part of our lives and we are pretty good at eating quite a delicious and varied diet (well, Ava needs a bit of encouragement with that last bit!).

Lean red meat is a big part of our meals — it’s an extremely versatile ingredient with a variety of cuts available, making it perfect for making quick and easy mid-week meals when everyone’s tired after work and school!

We love eating red meat in our house and it is often a part of the meals we cook and we all have our favourites meals that make regular appearances. Lamb is something that we have been cooking with more and more recently — I love the flavour it has and the wide variety of meals you can make with the different cuts. Lamb is naturally rich in protein, low in salt and provides seven essential vitamins and minerals that support good health and wellbeing. These are: niacin (vitamin B3), vitamins B6 and B12, zinc, potassium, phosphorus and pantothenic acid. This post is part of the Family Favourite campaign, sponsored by Welsh Lamb.

I wanted to share one of our current family favourites, that we all love and often finish off for lunch the next day if there’s any left over! The sauce is filled with hidden veg making it perfect as a base for loads of kids dinners — we always make extra and freeze it in individual food bags and then bring it out to use as an easy sauce with pasta, as well as a base for a tasty Spaghetti Bolognese. It means that we always have a tasty, quick and nutritious meal for Ava on those evenings when we don’t have the energy or inclination to cook a time-consuming meal.

The lamb meatballs are tasty and easy to make, and it’s easy enough to divide them up to make a less spicy version if your children aren’t big on heat (although the Harissa version is not crazily spicy). Ava loved these Harissa Lamb Meatballs with a Veg-filled Pasta Sauce as much as we did — and I hope you do too if you make them yourself!

To make the tasty homemade pasta sauce you need to follow this recipe here, and then use the recipe below to make the delicious lamb harissa meatballs.

Enjoy!

Harissa Lamb Meatballs With a Veg-Filled Pasta Sauce

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Main Dish
Servings 5

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Onion - red or white
  • 5 Cream Crackers (for breadcrumbs)
  • 500 g Lamb Mince
  • 50 g Parmesan - grated
  • 1 tbsp Dried Thyme
  • 1/2 tsp Oregano
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • 25 g Cheddar Cheese or Parmesan - grated for the topping
  • 1/2 ball Mozzarella - for the topping
  • 2 tsp Harissa

Instructions
 

  • Fry the onion on a low heat with a pinch of salt, until it is soft and translucent (about 10-15 minutes)
  • Leave to cool until it's not too hot to touch
  • Set aside 1tsp of the Harissa to be added to the sauce later as well as the 25g of cheddar or parmesan and the mozzarella to be used later for the topping
  • Put all of the other ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with hands
  • Make the mixture into golfball-sized meatballs
  • Fry the meatballs until they are browned all over (about 5 minutes)
  • Add 1tsp of Harissa to your tomato veg sauce (see earlier recipe)
  • Transfer your meatballs to a baking dish and cover with your tomato veg sauce
  • Top with grated cheese (cheddar, or cheddar and parmesan), chunks of mozzarella and oregano
  • Bake in the oven at 200°c until the cheese is golden and bubbling (approx 40-45 minutes)
  • Meanwhile cook your pasta of choice
  • Serve the meatballs and sauce with your pasta

Notes

Use as much or as little cheese for the topping as you like.
 

I hope you like the sound of this Harissa Lamb Meatballs recipe and make sure you let me know if you decide to make it yourself — I’d love to know what you think!

For more great recipes head to www.eatwelshlambandwelshbeef.com.

I’m working in a paid relationship with BritMums on the Family Favourite campaign sponsored by Welsh Lamb highlighting red meat family favourites.

11 responses to “Harissa Lamb Meatballs with a Veg-filled Pasta Sauce #FamilyFavourite | AD”

  1. Susan Mann says:

    I’ve never eaten lamb this way, it looks great and I am loving all the colourful veg too. Must give this a go x

  2. Pup Payne says:

    I love lamb meatballs 😋 these sound gorgeous!

  3. ohh Yum We love meatballs in our house and yours look really yummy.

  4. This sounds so tasty! I love how much veg you’ve packed in there. Definitely one to add to my list of family favourites 🙂

  5. Jaime Oliver says:

    oh Lou, this sounds delicious! my kids would totally love this!

  6. Teresa Sheldon says:

    This dish looks amazing and quite quick to prepare and cook I’ve never used cream crackers to coat meat before but I’m definitely goi g to try this the colourful veggies and the small meatballs are ideal for children as they do often eat with their eyes, I’m going to do this Saturday when my 2 grandchildren come to stay, I’ll even get them helping maki g the meatballs they love hellpi g me I. The kitchen thanks for sharing with us I’ll let you know the outcome

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS




All rights reserved. Please do not take images or content from this site without written permission.