Keftedes In Lemon Sauce
The softest and juiciest Greek meatballs in lemon sauce with butter. Flavored with garlic and dried oregano.
Servings: 15 meatballs
Calories: 142kcal
Ingredients
For The Meatballs:
- olive oil
- 600 grams (1.3 pounds) ground beef or half ground beef half ground pork
- 1 large egg
- 100 grams (3.5 ounces) crustless bread
- 4 tablespoons white wine
- 100 grams (½ cup) onion minced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano + extra to serve with
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley or fresh minced
- fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper + extra for the sauce
- all-purpose flour
For The Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped/minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (500 ml) hot water or stock vegetable, beef, or chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 5-6 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
Prepare The Meatballs:
- Soak bread in cold water. Tear it into smaller pieces and then let it soak for a couple of minutes.
- Add the ground meat to a mixing bowl along with the egg, parsley, oregano, cumin, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Add the soaked bread. Squeeze it well first to remove as much water as possible. Then add it to the bowl with the ground meat.
- Knead the meatball mixture for 2-3 minutes until everything is thoroughly combined.
- Shape into 15 oval-shaped meatballs (about 65-70 grams each) and place on a large plate.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to become firm and hold their shape.
- Heat a generous splash of olive oil in a saute or frying pan.
- Coat the meatballs in flour and shake to remove excess.
- Sear the meatballs on both sides to get a brown color. Don't flip or disturb them before the first 3-4 minutes of cooking have passed. Then turn them using two forks.
- Transfer the meatballs to paper towels to drain excess oil.
Make the sauce:
- In a saute pan melt butter over low heat (You may use the same saute pan as before as long as you clean it of remnant browned bits, no need to wash it though).
- Saute the garlic until soft.
- Add the flour raise the heat to moderate and cook, stirring with a wooden spatula until sandy in color and smells toasted.
- Pour in the hot water or stock and the bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Bring sauce to a simmer.
- Add the meatballs and put the lid on.
- Simmer for about 20 minutes, turning them once and scraping the pan so they won't stick to the bottom. Taste the sauce for any additional seasoning.
- Pour the lemon juice and cook for another minute.
- Serve warm with plenty of freshly ground pepper and some dried oregano on top.
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 1meatball | Calories: 142kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 242mg | Potassium: 179mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 117IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg