Festive Spiced Cranberry Meatballs
Anyone who reads my recipes on a regular basis knows that I’m keen on meatballs and the whole fruit and meat combination. And, seeing as it’s the holidays, I wanted something a bit festive-y and special. And I didn’t make any cookies. These are my snacky substitute. Almost the same ingredients – but not quite….
These would be good as a party pleaser for a big party. Honestly, I seem to go overboard when it comes to cooking meatballs. I think this made about 40 small meatballs. You could make them bigger.. (admittedly, some ended up bigger when I got bored of rolling them…)
- 1 kilogram ground pork
- 200 grams cranberries
- 120 grams chopped onion (about 2 small onions)
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- .5 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 lemon zest
First, grind your cloves down using a mortar and pestle or something. Add the fennel seed and onion to combine them all. You don’t want a whole clove to sneak into a meatball – that would be like russian roulette or something.
Roughly chop the cranberries and then throw all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine.
Roll into meatballs. The size is up to you. Smaller is better for party snacks, bigger is better when you’re lazy. You could do half and half if you fancy – bring some to the party and keep some to snack on for yourself.
Stick the meatballs on a tray (lined with greaseproof paper if you love easy washing up!). And then stick the tray(s) in the fridge for about half hour to firm up.
Now preheat your oven to 200*C.
After half an hour, take the trays out of the fridge and bake the meatballs for about 30 – 45 minutes; it depends on the size, and your oven.
Personally, I baked them for about 30 minutes then flipped them over onto a wire rack and finished baking them for another 10-15 minutes just to get the grease to fall off and for them to evenly brown.Let them cool and either eat straight from the fridge, or reheat in the oven before serving at your party!