Soutzoukakia Smyrneika

Soutzoukakia are the smaller cousins of keftedes. These meatballs are quenelle-shaped (kinda like lil' sausages) but the two meat recipes are the similar. What's different here is the sauce and the use of cumin & cinnamon.

This dish is named after and brought to mainland Greece from the Greeks who used to live in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) and it's name, Smyrneika simply is the description of the style of meatballs/sausages as in "sausages in the style of Smyrna".

This dish benefits from using very ripe tomatoes or very good jarred or canned tomato sauce. In this instance I used a can of plum tomatoes and I used a strainer to remove the seeds. Greeks will eat this accompanied by mashed potatoes, hilopites (egg noodles) or in today's dish, french fries.

Think of the sauce as sweet, aromatic Greek ketchup...yummy sauce to mop up with the fries.

Soutzoukakia Smyrneika

1 lb. of ground beef
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 slices of stale bread
1 egg
1 tsp. of ground cumin
1 tsp. dried Greek oregano
3 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
4 Tbsp. of olive oil + extra for shallow frying
salt and pepper to taste
all-purpose flour

For the Sauce
1 onion, grated
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of tomato juice
1 Tbsp. of tomato paste, dilluted in water
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. of sweet paprika
1/2 cup of dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
2 pads of unsalted butter
1 small cinnamon stick
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Soak the bread in a bowl of water and when it's soft, remove the crust. Squeeze it in your hands to remove the excess liquid. Add to another bowl with your ground beef and the other meatball ingredients. Knead the meat mixture with your hands to blend and fry off a small piece to sample and in the end, adjust the seasoning of your Soutzoukakia.
2. Mould the mixture into little quenelle or oblong hamburgers and dredge lightly in some flour and fry them off in hot oil. Set aside and reserve.
3. In the same skillet, add the olive oil and butter along with the onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes or until the onions have softened (about 5 minutes). Add the wine and reduce for a couple of minutes and then add the dilluted tomato paste + tomato juice and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium an simmer for for about 15 minutes or until thew sauce has thickened.
4. Carefully add the Soutzoukakia into the sauce and move the pot around in a circular motion to coat and warm the meatballs through. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper (plus sugar if needed) and remove the cinnamon stick.
   
5. Serve alone as part of an array of appetizers or for main with rice, noodles or fries.
   

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