Izmir Meatballs

Classic Turkish style meat balls recipe but this time oven cooked in tomato sauce.

Ingredients (for 4):

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 2 potatoes
• 2 tomatoes
• 4-5 cubanelle peppers
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper
• extra light olive oil for frying

Recipe:

1. Peel and grate the onion. Combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, and black pepper. Mix well. Take walnut size piece from the meatball mixture and round it in your hand and roll the meatball to a thumb-like shape.
   
2. Peel the potatoes. Wash and pat dry them with a paper towel. Cut the potatoes into wedges. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Fry the potatoes wedges and arrange the fried potatoes along the edges of an oven safe dish.
   
3. Use the same oil to fry the meatballs. Arrange the fried meatballs in the middle of the potato wedges.
4. Fry the cubanelle peppers briefly and place them over the meatballs and potatoes.
5. Grate the tomatoes and pour the pulpy juice over the dish.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cook for 20-25 minutes and serve warm.

Tags: pepper, izmir, meatballs, potato