> Lemon and Strawberries: Meatballs with egg-lemon sauce (Giouvarlakia)

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Meatballs with egg-lemon sauce (Giouvarlakia)


This is one of my favourites - and one of my discoveries after I came to Greece. I guess in every country you'll find some type of meatballs, I knew for example the Polish version with tomato or dill sauce, served with mashed potatoes. Giouvarlakia was something new and captivated me with its refreshing, lemon taste of avgolemono. 
The love story between avgolemono and me started with a pinch of scepticism, as the combination of egg and lemon was a little bit exotic to me and I really wasn't sure what to expect.
After giving it a try with giouvarlakia, my attitude changed from reserved to pretty passionate about it!
Some recipes describe giouvarlakia as soup, some others make it more into meatballs with sauce - I prefer it rather thick and love to scoop out the sauce with some bread, but it's really up to you!

INGREDIENTS (for about 20 meatballs):
  • 500g minced beef or pork
  • 1 finely chopped onion
  • handful parsley & dill
  • 2tsp chopped mint
  • 60g rice
  • 1 egg
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • 750ml chicken broth or water
  • flour (optional)


Set water or broth to boil. Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl and form into meatballs, about a size of a walnut or a little bigger. To prevent them from falling apart you may want to roll them in the flour before putting in a liquid, but it's not necessary - this time I've decided not to add any flour.
When the broth is boiling, put meatballs one by one in, stir it gently to make sure they didn't stick to the bottom and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
Finish your dish with avgolemono:


AVGOLEMONO:
  • 1 small lemon
  • 1 egg
Beat the egg in a bowl and add juice from one lemon. Still beating, add some of the liquid from the pot with meatballs. This prevents the mixture from scrumbling. Pour it in the pot, stir to combine all the ingredients together and let it cook for few more minutes - avgolemono makes the sauce thicker and adds the final touch.

Serve hot in a deep plate, sprinkled with fresh dill and a slice of bread. 


Enjoy!



2 comments:

  1. Ciekawie musi smakowac to polaczenie :)

    ReplyDelete