Marvellous Meatballs! 02.02.21

Good evening!

Another long day in the kitchen! Not that I'm not used to it by now, or have it any other way.

Just finalised a menu as I've had the pleasure to be asked to work with 360 Degrees Sports coaching over the half term to feed 60 kids a day for Feb, and it could go up to 150 a day during the other half terms. Very excited to work with another company and spread the good food word about and help supply homecooked meals to this energetic bunch!

For this week we ended up with some adorable tiny apples (I love things that are small, as a small person it makes me feel normal sized!) and I wanted to do something a bit different with them - so I decided on making some pork and apple meatballs, a classic combo as we all know. This week it will be served with mash, mustard sauce and red cabbage, super warming on these chilly nights.

Here is the recipe for the meatballs I made - what would you serve them with? Let me know and I hope you enjoy!

Pork and apple meatballs (makes 15 meatballs)

You will need

  • 1 Onion (red or white)

  • 2/3 Cloves of Garlic - minced

  • 500g Pork Mince (we had 15% fat mince)

  • 2 Small apples or 1 medium sized apple (we had these lovely pink ladies, but you could try Granny Smith for a tart take!)

  • 2 TBSP mixed herbs

  • Salt and pepper

  • Baking tray

  • Non stick greaseproof paper or silicone baking sheet

Method.

10-15 minutes Prep time, 20 minutes cook time

  1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees/ Gas mark 6.

  2. Grate your apple and dice your onion - you will want this diced quite small and you will want equal quantities of apple and onion. Mix the apple and onion into a bowl, add a bit of salt and mix together. Leave this for 5 minutes to draw the moisture out.

  3. Place your pork mince, minced garlic, mixed herbs and salt and pepper into a separate bowl to the apple and onion mix.

  4. If you have a teatowel or muslin, add your onion and apple mix into this and squeeze as much moisture out as you can. If you don't you can just use your hands.

  5. Add your apple and onion mix into the bowl with the pork mince and mix together until thoroughly combined.

  6. Make your meatballs! We managed to get 15 meatballs out of this mixture. Place your meatballs onto your baking tray lined with your non-stick paper.

  7. Place your meatballs into your preheated oven for 15/20 minutes or until piping hot in the middle. Serve & Enjoy!


Why not...

  1. Serve this with a cream based sauce and pasta for a quick mid-week dinner!

  2. Make these and freeze them down for future dishes, get your meal prep on for an easy protein portion.

  3. Add extra herbs like sage for a pork stuffing taste, put these in yorkshire puddings for a roast dinner twist!

  4. Flatten the meatballs out and make pork and apple burgers! Reminds me of Christmas markets and pork in a bun, with a bit of cabbage and gravy for a festive style slider!

I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you make this or use this for any other recipes!

Tia