Marvellous Meatballs

These tasty meatballs are a perfect family meal or finger food at your next party. Contains pine nuts, herbs and cheese for an exotic taste that will impress every time.

• Ingredients
• Method
• Nutritional content

Ingredients

Makes 4 serves 

• 400 g trim beef mince
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 medium brown onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup finely cut spring onions
• 1/4 cup finely cut coriander
• 50 g low-fat tasty cheese, shredded
• 2 cubes vegetable stock
• Olive oil

Method

1. Place the vegetable stock in very little hot water to melt.
2. Put the onion and garlic in a saucepan with some olive oil and cook until soft and brown.
3. Add the pine nuts. Cook until lightly coloured.
4. Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix.
5. Shape the mixture into small balls about 3 cm in size.
6. Place the meatballs on a plate, cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
7. Add a small amount of olive oil onto a pan and cook the meatballs until golden brown.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Difficulty rating: Easy
Tips

• Make sure you choose trim beef mince when shopping. Trim beef is lower in fat and cholesterol, and lowering your intake of these is an important step in improving your diet and reducing your risk of health conditions like type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and obesity.
• Most of the fat in this recipe comes from the nuts, which is mostly unsaturated fat.
• Serve with wholegrain pasta or rice and steamed vegetables and/or salad to make a healthy balanced meal. Vegetables and salad provide important micronutrients which help keep your eyes, skin, sperm and body healthy.
• Use wholegrain bread crumbs instead of white bread crumbs. Wholegrain cereals have more fibre per serve. Fibre is used by the gastrointestinal system to digest food.
• Choose a reduced or low-fat variety of cheese to reduce the fat and calories in this recipe. You’ll still get the same amount of calcium, an important micronutrient that helps build and maintain healthy teeth and bones. Dairy products like cheese are the best source of calcium.
• Make smaller meatballs to serve as finger food.

This recipe was designed in Annabelle’s kitchen in Kings Langley, NSW.

Nutritional content

Nutritional analysis per serve:

Energy	1481.2 kJ 354 cal
Protein	31.5 g
Total fat	19.6 g
Saturated fat	5.4 g
Carbohydrates	11.7 g
Total sugars	3.0 g
Fibre	2.6 g
Sodium	729.6 mg
Cholesterol	123.1 mg
Potassium	579.5 mg
Calcium	155.1 mg

 

More information

For more information on nutrition, including information on types and composition of food, nutrition and people, conditions related to nutrition, and diets and recipes, as well as some useful videos and tools, see Nutrition.