End-of-summer meal

chicken meatballs in tomato and okra sauce
garlicy green salad

The start of September reminds us that the end of summer is soon approaching.

With this in mind, I thought I would share a meal that I love- hearty chicken meatballs cooked in a tomato and okra sauce with an herbed rice served with a crisp and fresh green salad.

This meal uses only seasonal produce and is healthy, simple and easy to put together. This is the ultimate end-of-summer meal, which could be served as lunch or dinner and can be made in advance.

(Serves 4)

Hearty chicken meatballs cooked in tomato and okra sauce

For the meatballs:

0.5 lbs ground chicken breast (you can also use turkey )

1 medium onion, finely grated

1 peeled small potato, finely grated

3 tbsp dill, finely chopped

1 egg

Salt and pepper

  • Mix all of the ingredients together in a glass bowl, cover and place in fridge to chill, while you make the tomato sauce.

For the tomato and okra sauce:

1 can whole plum tomatoes

2 garlic cloves - crushed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1.5 cup okra (frozen or fresh)

2 tsp oregano (fresh or dried)

Salt and pepper to taste

  • In a medium depth saucepan, on low heat, heat the olive oil and add the freshly crushed garlic. Saute.
  • Add the canned tomatoes, okra, salt, pepper and oregano. Bring to simmer and cover with a lid.
  • While the tomato sauce is simmering, start shaping the meatballs.
  • Use a tablespoon in order to keep the meatballs the same size.
  • Drop the meatballs carefully into the simmering sauce. Once you have used up all the meat, cover the sauce with a lid and allow to cook for about 45mins or until the meat is cooked.
  • While this is cooking you can prepare the herbed rice.

For the herbed rice:

1.5 cups round rice (almost like risoto rice or any rice you fancy), rinse well to remove the starch, this will prevent the rice from being sticky

3 cups water

1 cup flat leaf parsely, chopped

1 cup dill, copped

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp nutmeg

0.5 tsp tumeric

Salt and pepper

  • Add all of the above ingredients to a saucepan, bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to low, cover and allow to cook for about 20-30 minutes (or follow instructions on the rice package)

 

Crisp and fresh green salad with garlicy vinegar dressing

2 heads Romaine or cos lettuce – washed and torn roughly

1 medium purple onion- sliced

1 -2 small cucmbers- sliced

1 green pepper – sliced

For the dressing:

1 garlic clove- chopped

1 tsp sugar

0.5 cup white wine vinegar

3 tbsp sunflower seed oil

1 tsp salt

  • if you prefer to remove the fresh garlic you can do so by using a sieve when you pour the dressing over the salad.