WARM CHICKPEA SALAD WITH ROSEMARY MEAT BALLS

I’m a meat eater. Everyone in my family is. For me it is natural to have some well prepared piece of meat on the plate few times in the week. It’s mostly fish or white meat, but I will never give up my grand mum’s meatballs. She used to prepare them for us since we were kids. I remember the smell of freshly baked meatballs in her kitchen. She always made small portions of the size of a golf ball. So yummy! This is my version.

 WARM CHICKPEA SALAD WITH ROSEMARY MEAT BALLS

400g of fresh minced meat

1 yellow onion

2 cloves of garlic

Herbs – rosemary, thyme, mint

½ cup of breadcrumb

¼ cup of milk (classic or almond)

2 middle size carrots

250g / or two hands full of green young beans

4 middle size brown button mushrooms

300g chickpeas (you may use also can package)

2 large tomatoes

fennel seeds

roman cumin

salt

pepper

lemon

 

Meet balls:

Cut ½ onion and 1 clove of garlic. Place them in a hot pan; add olive oil a stir till they get light brown colour. Take the meat and mix it with salt, pepper in a large bowl. Then stir in the mixture of breadcrumbs, milk, onion and garlic, plus thyme and rosemary (nicely chopped). Use your hands. Mix it all together, and then start rolling small meatballs. It depends on you, what size you choose to roll. Don’t worry if you end up with larger balls, than you have expected. Just freeze a portion for later on.

Heat up the pan. Use Ghee butter, pork fat or olive oil. When hot, place the balls on the pan. Leave them on one side for 2-3 minutes till they get nicely brown on the high level, then turn. Lower the heat, and let them cook for approx. 7-8 minutes.

Warm chickpea salad:

This salad contains warm and cold ingrediences

For the warm part, peal carrots, ½ onion and all the other vegetable for the recipe. Cut everything into nice pieces. Use a second pan. Grill the greens first with a light touch of olive oil (onion, carrot, beans). Add fennel seeds and cumin, salt & pepper. Then add mushrooms and grill nicely.

For the cold part, cut tomatoes, mint and 1 clove of garlic. Mix it with chickpeas, salt, pepper and olive oil. If you use cooked can chickpeas, you just need to rinse them with fresh water. If you use dry chickpeas, leave them in a bowl full of water over night. Then you have to cook them for 15 minutes in salted water the next day.

Add the warm part of the salad and let it sit a little  Use fresh juice from ½ lemon to give it a final touch. I do eat this salad without any additional meat very often as a main course.

Use some nice bowl or plate, serve 2 – 3 spoons of the salad and garnish it with the meatballs. I think you will have no complains. 

Enjoy :)