Karen Wright: A simple Greek dish that won’t break the bank

I sometimes get tempted and order something for our main meal instead of cooking myself. I quite often regret it as after eating it, thinking “I could have made that quite easily myself” and it is always expensive.

Last weekend I succumbed to temptation, the food truck was Greek food which is normally one of my favourites. Now don't get me wrong, it was OK, but it cost £25 for the two meals, and I thought that was poor value for a takeaway dinner.

However, it did inspire me and the next day I took myself off to the supermarket to buy ingredients for a Greek meal cooked from scratch. I made Keftedes, which are lamb meatballs, and I cooked them in rich tomato sauce with olives and tzatziki as toppings.

I bought 500g of lamb mince and added breadcrumbs, oregano, garlic granules, salt, pepper and a good squirt of tomato purée. I rolled the mixture into balls about the size of a walnut and browned them in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil. I added a diced-up onion and cooked that for a few minutes before adding a carton of passata, some more oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. I continued to cook the meatballs in the sauce for about 20 minutes, adding a splash of red wine towards the end of the cooking time.

When the sauce was nice and thick I served the meatballs with a few olives and spoonfuls of tzatziki on the top. I think the meal probably cost around £8 for the two of us, but there were leftovers so it could easily have served three or even four at a pinch. As a side, I roasted some cooked baby potatoes, and they benefitted from a grind of sea salt and a good squeeze of lemon.

Why not try making some meatballs yourself, any minced meat will work. I normally use mince with quite high fat content so that the meatballs are juicy and tender rather than rock hard which can happen if you use a low-fat mince!

Next week's column holidays in a fancy hotel are on the menu! No takeaways there I hope!