302. Middle Eastern Inspired Potato and Meatball Bake

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This recipe is not just meatballs and potatoes. It stopped my family mid-chew “Mom this is a good one”.

I really didn’t want to cook the other day, yet my family still needed to eat. I defrosted some meatballs and peeled a few potatoes. Dinner was 90% done. a quickie sauce of tomato paste, salt, pepper, water, and finally some cinnamon. The oven did all the work.

Covered the tray in foil, pop it in the oven, and bake until the potatoes were fork tender (about 60-75 minutes), and my family LOVED it.

I always make it layered vertically like the photo, but my son (the one that is 3 hours away by plane) makes the layers horizontal. He does a layer of potato then a layer of meatballs, followed by potato. It really doesn’t matter how you assemble the dish, the flavour is all about the sauce.

The meal looks like it is more work than it is. You can use any meatball recipe you like, the recipe I often use is below. Make a large batch of meatballs and freeze them, and use them for everything.

I always make sure the meatballs and potato slices are the same size for this dish. This way, everything cooks evenly. I generally use Russet potatoes (also known as Idaho, Maris Piper, King Edward, Rooster, Sebago, Agria, Farineuse), basically use a floury potato. All this said, any potato will manage just fine for this recipe.

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This recipe will make about 24 golf ball sized meatballs. Any leftovers can be frozen.

1 lb ground beef or veal

1 regular cooking onion grated and strained from any excess liquid

2 cloves garlic minced

1 egg

½ cup breadcrumbs

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano flakes

½ tsp sweet paprika

1 ½ tsp sumac (optional, but I love it for this recipe)

pinch of chilli flakes - if you like a bit of heat

½ cup parsley finely chopped - 1 Tbsp reserved for garnishing prior to serving

3-4 potatoes of your choice - I like Russet (see not above about naming conventions in other parts of the world

2 tomatoes

½ bell pepper/capsicum sliced in slivers to use as filler

½ tomato sliced thinly in 1/2 moons to use as filler

Mix all the ingredients together.

2 Tbsp tomato paste - I use a Turkish brand as the flavour is stronger than Italian, use what you have as it will still be delicous.

¼ red onion sliced very thinly

1 tsp sea salt

¼ tsp white pepper (you can use black if you don’t have white)

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon

water (enough for the sauce to jcome almost to the top of the potatoes and meatballs - not fully submerged)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

2. Grate the onion (be sure to strain out any excess liquid), and mix well with the ground beef.

3. Add the garlic, eggs, breadcrumbs, cumin, oregano, paprika, sumac, chilli flakes, and parsley.

4. The number of meatballs you will need will depend on the size of your baking dish. Shape the meatballs then flatten as many as you need with the heel of your hand to about ½ inch.

5. Peel and slice the potatoes. Each slice is bit thinner than ½ inch. The idea is to layer an equal number of meatballs to potatoes. I like to use extra potatoes as my family like the extra carbs.

6. Arrange the meatballs and potatoes in an oven safe dish oval dish/pan. It is optimal to layer everything tightly in the baking dish/pan. This way, the dish holds its shape and cooks evenly.

   

7. Fill any gaps with the slices of bell pepper and some slices of tomato. The gaps in my pan were filled with some chopped onion and peppers, I used some chopped onion and peppers I already had in the fridge.

8. Make the sauce by mixing the tomato paste, onion slices, salt, pepper, cinnamon, olive oil, and water. Pour over the meatballs and cover with foil.

   

9. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes covered, and a further 15-30 minutes uncovered, or until the potatoes are fork tender.

   

10. Serve with a side salad of your choosing. I have included a couple of salad links.

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