I was cooking these meatballs for dinner to have with a tomato sauce and spaghetti and I thought they would make quite a good lunch time food just by themselves.
Your little cook can help you mix all the ingredients together and then roll them into balls (Thomas still isn’t that good at getting his hands dirty so he’s only up to the mixing stage – using a utensil). Great for helping fine motor skills, bi-lateral co ordination and sensory awareness.
Ingredients:
- 500g pork and veal mince
- 1 medium brown onion, coarsely grated
- 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (made from day-old bread)
- 1 carrot finely grated (drain on paper towel to get out excess moisture)
- 1 zucchini finely grated (drain as above)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbs olive oil
Method:
- Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Combine the veal and pork mince, onion, breadcrumbs, zucchini, carrot garlic and egg in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper (optional). Use your hands to mix until combined. Roll 1 heaped tablespoonful of mince mixture into a ball and place on prepared tray. Repeat with the remaining mince mixture.
- Heat one-third of the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add one-half of the meatballs and cook, turning, for 8 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to a plate. Repeat, with next batch, with the remaining oil and meatballs, reheating pan between batches.
You could make a big batch of these too and freeze them in individual portions to make life a little easier :-).
I added some little toothpicks to the meatballs to serve and attached some little ‘Thomas’ stickers that I had in the drawer – so we don’t have any injuries with the toothpicks and also for a bit of fun. Serve with dipping sauce of your choice. 🙂
cookwithkids 