Baked Greek meatballs on a bed of roasted vegetables

Another delicious recipe with the Greek "keftedes" as the main star, one of the most popular foods around Greece! For less calories this time the meatballs are baked and not fried but believe me they don't lack in taste at all. Along with the roasted vegetables (okay... and some fries) they can become a filling main dish but still you can serve them as an appetizer (meze) to share

Recipe of Evi Voutsina,

from "Gastronomos" magazine of "KATHIMERINI" newspaper

Ingredients (for about 25-28 meatballs)

For the keftedes:

750gr. of ground beef
2 medium-sized yellow onions, grated
1 egg
1/2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh (or dried) mixed herbs (sage, marjoram, rosemary)
2 tbsp of olive oil
3 tbsp of Greek Kefalotyri cheese, grated (or other hard cheese)
salt

pepper

For the vegetables:

3 full cups finely chopped cabbage
3 medium-sized leeks, cut in thin rounds (white part an the tender green)
2 large red onions, cut in thin rings
1 small fennel bulb, finely sliced
1/2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh (or dried) herbs (same as above)
salt
80ml of olive oil

Method:

In a large bowl, put the meat and the grated onion and knead for 1-2 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients and knead well again for at least 10 minutes (the more you knead the fluffier the meatballs will be, especially since in this recipe there is no soaked bread involved). Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C.

Put all the vegetables and the herbs in a medium-sized baking dish, season with salt and, using your hands, rub the vegetables with the salt so they soften. Drizzle with the olive oil, mix with your hands again and evenly spread the vegetables in the dish.

Put the dish in the oven just before you start kneading the meat mixture into even balls that are a bit larger than a golf ball.

Then, remove the vegetables from the oven and place the meatballs on the top (the meatballs can also be put through metal skewers).

Put the dish back in the oven and cook until the meatballs are golden brown, turning them over once.

Serve while everything is still hot and, if you wish, drizzle the vegetables with some balsamic vinegar.