Lamb Meatballs with Greek Salad

I am well and truly ready for Summer now. I must admit, the thought of warm evenings with barbecues, summer dresses and maybe even getting some colour on my pale skin are preoccupying me more than work is. Going on holiday last month has also made me even more desperate to escape somewhere lovely after putting me in a travelling mindset.
Probably not gonna happen anytime soon though. However, while I can't be lounging on a beach in the Mediterranean, I can eat like I'm there.
I never used to be much of a fan of meat, tending to eat only chicken. Then I tried lamb, cooked perfectly, and have since embraced my inner carnivore. I don't like to do too much with it when I cook it, as I think it has a lovely flavour naturally.
Here I've made some meatballs out of lamb mince, adding just a bit of onion, garlic, tomato purée and seasoning. I served it with a fresh Greek salad drizzled with olive oil, some spicy chickpeas and pitta bread. A dollop of minted Greek yoghurt completed my mini Mediterranean feast.

The recipes below all serve two people. Everything can be easily multiplied however, and would make excellent side dishes at a barbecue or the like. Experiment with quantities of individual ingredients and seasonings to suit your own tastes. 

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For the meatballs:
250g lamb mince
1/2 red onion
1 heaped teaspoon tomato purée
1 clove of garlic, crushed
A sprinkle each of cumin and ground coriander, to taste
Salt
Pepper

Pitta bread and iceberg lettuce, to serve.

-Preheat an oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with kitchen foil.
-Place the mince into a bowl.
-Grate the onion, or use a food processor if available to finely chop the onion. Add to the mince, along with the tomato purée, crushed garlic, spices and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
-Roll the mince into meatballs of equal size and place on the tray. (I have made quite small meatballs - if you make larger ones just cook for longer).
-Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes, until just cooked through and still juicy.
-Warm the pitta bread through in the oven for a few minutes.
-Chop and rinse the lettuce.
-Serve with yoghurt, salad and chickpeas.

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For the minted yoghurt:
4 generous tablespoons Greek yoghurt
A few sprigs of mint
1 garlic clove

-Place the yoghurt in a bowl.
-Crush the garlic into the yoghurt.
-Shred the leaves of the mint and stir into the yoghurt.

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For the Greek Salad: (Adapted from GoodFood 101 Mediterranean Dishes)

1/2 red onion, sliced

4-5 Vine ripened tomatoes, quartered

1/3 cucumber, sliced and then quartered

Olives and Feta cheese (I bought a mixed selection from Tesco deli but use whatever you fancy)

1 teaspoon Oregano

Olive oil

-Prepare the onion, tomatoes and cucumber and place into a serving dish.

-Sprinkle over the oregano.

-Drizzle over a tablespoon or two of olive oil. The olives I purchased already had some dressing on so vary the amount you add depending on this. 

-Stir to combine. 

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For the chickpeas: (Adapted from a recipe tweeted by @TheBoyThatBakes)

1 tin of chickpeas

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 tablespoon cumin

1/2 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon garlic salt

A pinch of pepper

A bit of chilli powder, to taste

-Preheat the oven to 180C. 

-Mix all the ingredients together and spread out onto a baking tray.

-Bake for 30-45 minutes.

These are quite dry by themselves but add a different texture to the meal when mixed with the yoghurt and salad.

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Hopefully this should satisfy my holiday cravings for a little while at least...