Lamb, mint and harissa meatballs with trofie and feta
Spaghetti and meatballs gets a makeover. We’ve taken the combo, swapped spaghetti for a more meatball-friendly pasta shape and given it a Greek twist to create something deliciously fragrant. Curls of frozen feta gently melt into the sauce, adding a delightfully creamy tang.
Next time: try harissa-spiced turkey meatballs with houmous and pomegranate seeds.
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Serves 4-6
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Hands-on time 40 min
Ingredients
- 30g feta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 tbsp harissa
- 700g passata
- 400g lamb mince
- 40g fresh breadcrumbs
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ bunch mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
- 300g dried trofie, strozzapreti or rigatoni
Method
- Put the feta in the freezer. Meanwhile, put a large, wide saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the sliced garlic and sizzle for 30 seconds until softened but not browned. Stir in the harissa then add the passata and leave to simmer while you shape the meatballs.
- Put the lamb mince in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, spices and half the chopped mint. Using your hands, mix and knead the mixture for a minute or so until completely combined. Shape the mixture into small 2cm meatballs. Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for a further 15 minutes to cook through.
- a large pan of salted water to the boil. When the sauce has around 10 minutes left, add the pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water, then stir through the sauce, adding enough of the pasta water to emulsify. Spoon onto a serving platter or divide among bowls and sprinkle with the remaining chopped mint and some cracked black pepper. Take the feta out of the freezer and use a vegetable peeler to grate curls of it all over the top.
Recipe from January 2023 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 407kcals
- Fat
- 13g (5.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 22.2g
- Carbohydrates
- 47.7g (6.4g sugars)
- Fibre
- 5.1g
- Salt
- 0.3g
delicious. tips
Freeze your feta! Not only does it keep for ages, it firms up the cheese enough to allow it to be grated or shaved. Fridge-cold feta is too crumbly for this treatment, resulting in big chunks of the cheese in your dish, which can be a bit overpowering.
The meatballs can be shaped up to a day in advance and kept in the fridge. The sauce (with meatballs) can be cooked up to a day in advance, then reheated until simmering before being tossed with the sauce.