My mom makes a great Greek salad, topped with a tangy dressing packed with fresh oregano. I decided to make a big Greek salad as the main course, and my gf Meghan made her lamb meatballs to have on the side (or on top). Neither the salad nor the meatballs really have a recipe per se, but I will try to recreate them below. I added in farm share radishes because I still had a few sitting around.
For the record, I should say that Meg and her friend Beth came up with the meatball recipe together a few years ago. Beth is a great cook and an amazing baker. She spent a summer working at what I think is the best bakery in D.C. - Baked & Wired. Do yourself a favor and try a strawberry cupcake and an Americano. If you prefer Georgetown Cupcake after trying Baked & Wired, I question your judgment.
Anyway, on to the recipes:
Greek Salad Base - to make 2 dinner salads
- one head chopped romaine lettuce (or 1/2 a massive head)
- one half small red onion, sliced as thin as possible (note - I didn't have red so I just used a yellow onion)
- 1/2 a medium cucumber, peeled and seeded, chopped
- 15 or so black olives of your choice, chopped very course
- 2 small tomatoes, chopped
- 3 small (farm share) radishes, sliced thin
- 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbes
Greek Salad Dressing
- juice of one lemon
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
- 1-2 minced garlic cloves
- salt and pepper to taste
Whisk ingredients together before assembling salad or making meatballs - this is better when it has a little while for the flavors to combine. Any leftovers will store in the fridge for the better part of a week.
Meg and Beth's Lamb Meatballs
- one pound ground lamb
- 1/4 cup couscous soaked briefly in warm water - other grains can be subbed
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- handful finely chopped parsley
- tablespoon of finely chopped oregano (usually don't add this, but it was around)
- 3 minced cloves garlic
- dash of olive oil
- good sized pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
Mix together with hands, or, if squeamish when it comes to getting your hands dirty (I won't name names here), with a big spoon. As meatballs go, this recipe is especially healthy because it forgoes egg and breadcrumbs as binding agents for a small amount of grains. Spread out on a baking sheet, and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.
Tzatziki Sauce for Meatballs (optional)
- one small container skim greek yogurt (you can also "greekify" normal yogurt if you have the time and patience, as my culinary idol Alton Brown does in this recipe, which is the basis for my tzatziki) - I like skim because it is (counterintuitively) thicker than 2% and has less fat
- other half of the peeled and seeded cucumber, chopped fine
- small dash olive oil - one or two teaspoons
- 1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, depending on how tangy you like your tzatziki
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 6+ mint leaves, chopped fine (I like more mint than Alton)
Arrange salad ingredients on top of bed of romaine, and top with mixed dressing. I served the meatballs on the side, topped with tzatziki, but you could just throw the meatballs on top and forgo the tzatziki. You could even skip the dressing and use the tzatziki as dressing for a sort of lamb gyro flavor salad.
This turned out really well, and I will definitely make it again. I think the meatball presentation could be a little better... I think it has kind of a meatball sundae look going for it above. I also think this would be good with fresh pita bread or pita chips on the side/top. As I mentioned, this is a work in progress.
Having already made 4 big salads, we still have a good amount of romaine lettuce left from last week's share, as well as some oregano. That's it though; we've used up the strawberries, garlic scapes, spinach, arugula, and radishes. Next pickup is Thursday night... I'm looking forward to seeing what we get!
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