Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

meat rissoles with green olives ( soutzoukakia)

Recipe by
Carolyn Haas
Whitewater, WI

Any recipe with green olives speaks to me... Taken from the Complete Book of Greek Cooking by Salaman and Cutler.

yield 4 -6
prep time 20 Min
cook time 20 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For meat rissoles with green olives ( soutzoukakia)

  • 2 or 3 md
    slices of bread, crust removed
  • 1 1/2 lb
    ground lamb or beef or combination
  • 2 clove
    garlic, crushed
  • 1 Tbsp
    ground cumin
  • 1
    egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 c
    all purpose flour
  • 3 Tbsp
    sunflower oil, for frying
  • salt and pepper
  • SAUCE
  • 3 Tbsp
    oilive oil
  • 1 tsp
    cumin seeds
  • 14 oz
    can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 Tbsp
    tomato paste diluted in 2/3 cup hot water
  • 1/2 tsp
    dried oregano
  • 12-16
    green olives, rinsed and drained

How To Make meat rissoles with green olives ( soutzoukakia)

  • 1
    Soak the bread in water for 10 minutes. Drain, squeeze dry and place in large bowl. Add meat, garlic, cumin and egg. Season with salt and pepper. Mix either with for or hands until blended.
  • 2
    Take walnut sized handfuls of meat mixture and roll into short slim sausage shapes, set aside, roll the rissoles lightly in flour.
  • 3
    Heat sunflower oil in large skillet and fry the rissoles until golden on all sides.
  • 4
    SAUCE: heat olive oil in a large pan. Add cumin seeds and swirl them around for a few seconds until aromatic. Add tomatoes, diluted tomato paste and mix well.
  • 5
    Add the rissoles. Stir in oregano and olives plus salt and pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over rissoles, cover pan, shaking occasionally until everything is heated through.
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