Greek open meatball sandwich

Beer brewing is a hobby of ours but to be honest, our beer brewing efforts are a little infrequent. Nevertheless we had my brother and sister-in-law over for a brew day and when thinking about what to serve for lunch, a Greek style open meatball sandwich instantly came to mind. What better to accompany our vigorous beer brewing efforts?

This meatball recipe is moist and tasty and together with a yoghurt sauce, wholemeal roll and salad, not too bad for your waistline! I don’t fry my meatballs, I cook them on a non-stick pan with oil spray.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic (2 for the meatball and 1 for the sauce)
• 2 small chilies
• 5 tablespoons Greek yoghurt (2 for the meatball and 3 for the sauce)
• 500g mince beef
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Squeeze lemon
• 1 teaspoon chopped mint
• Wholemeal bread (or your choice of bread or roll)
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Cucumber
• Chili sauce (optional).

Method:

• Mince the onion in a food processor
• Cut 2 cloves of garlic and chilies finely
• Add the minced onion, garlic, chilies, 2 tablespoons of the Greek yoghurt and salt to the mince beef. Mix until well combined.
• Roll out approximately 18 medium sized meatballs
• Spray pan with olive oil and cook meatballs in batches until well cooked through – approximately 4-5 minutes per side depending on the thickness and heat of the pan
• Meanwhile mix 3 tablespoons yoghurt, 1 clove garlic finely chopped, lemon and mint together until well combined. Place in the fridge until meatballs are ready.
• Once the meatballs are ready chop the lettuce, cucumber and tomato finely
• Cut the bread rolls open (either toasted or fresh) and stack the lettuce, cucumber and tomato, and top with four small meatballs and yoghurt dressing. Add a little chili sauce too if you like some heat (we do!).

Now it is a large sandwich so if you use your hands, have some napkins handy. You can’t eat this elegantly, so don’t try…trust me.

Fun farewell yoghurt fact: “Greek yoghurt is heavily strained to remove the liquid whey and lactose (natural sugar found in milk) leaving behind a thicker texture with a tangier flavour (then natural yoghurt).”

Source: Purely B