Pesto Meatballs

Looking for things that can go off in the fridge before going out to do most of my Christmas food shopping makes sense. I found a jar of good quality pesto with real pine nuts and lots of basil. It was still 1/3 full.

Pasta with Pesto today? No! But what else? I wanted to make sonething with ground meat today. The leftovers can easily used up cold or in other dishes. That makes the pre- Christmas week a lot better.

Adding pesto to the ground meat gives it a distict smell when you shape the meatballs. I am curious to see how the flavour develop after cooking.

Before I put the meatballs in the frying pan, I put them in the fridge for 20 min to firm up.

Recipe for 4:

650 g ground pork and beef 40/60

3 spring onions, 3 garlic cloves, 1 egg

1 bread roll soaked in milk, 50 g breadcrumbs

2 tbsp Pesto, 1/2 tsp mustard

1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tsp herbes de Provence

Squeeze the milk out of the breadroll and put the fineley chopped onions and garlic together with everything else in a large bowl. Use your clean hands to mash it all together and form the meatballs. When you toss each a couple of times between your hands, they get firmer and air pockets get out.

Store them on some breadcrumbs to prevent from sticking to the plate. Use some oil to bake them at medium  high temperture for 3 to 4 min on each side. Reduce the heat to medium low until done. (Takes about 20 min on low with a lid on)

Now after eating some of them, the Pesto is like a strong Umami in the background. The distictive basil smell is gone.