Greek Pasta with Meatballs

Hubby loved this.  I might just serve over pasta instead of the orzo which didn't really seem to hold the sauce very well.  Will make again.

I used meatballs from CL's Beef Meatballs (1997) instead of these lamb meatballs. We enjoyed the dish. The feta was a really nice part of the dish.

I am not a fan of lamb; however, my husband is. I made this for him as a Father's Day treat. He raved about it; to my surprise, I enjoyed it as well. I followed the recipe to the "T" and served it with a Green salad and crusty bread. I took the advice in some of the comments and chilled the meatballs for 3 hours; they were wonderful. The cinnamon flavor really came through in a nice, mellow way making the lamb very tasty. Even though I made 1" meatballs, they were not thoroughly cooked during the recommended time. I added another 10 minutes to the oven time. Would definitely make this again. Thank you!

All of the folks who used turkey instead of lamb are seriously missing out. Definitely worth the splurge for lamb because the meatballs were rich and delicious. I used one whole egg which worked just fine. I always make homemade marinara and next time I make this I will chop up some olives to go in sauce. Would likely take this recipe to a 5 star!

These are even better if you crumble some extra Feta into the Lamb meat mixture. I sometimes also like to add some chopped KALAMATA (pitted : - ) olive to the mix too. If you do either or both be sure to cut way down on the salt! Also, I never bother with the mess and hassle of browning the meatballs in a skillet. I place the meatballs on a lined baking sheet in a 425 oven for 8-20 minutes ~ it depends entirely on the size of the meatballs you choose to make. Small ones cook very fast! The high oven temperature makes up for the lack of skillet browning. These meatballs are also delicious served with (on /over) couscous (I sometimes turn the couscous into a "pilaf" by combining it with cooked lentils and chopped sundried tomatoes. For a real feast, serve with spinach and/ or a Greek salad. I find that ground lamb has so much more flavor that ground beef - that I use it in many other "ground beef recipes" ~ including "hamburgers."

this is one of my families favorite meals. My daughter who is 10 loves to take leftovers in a thermos. As always, tailor the recipe to fit your needs. I use more ground lamb and heavy hand the spices but keep the egg the same.

This was my first attempt at cooking lamb! Simple to make and very tasty. I did substitute the breadcrumbs with Kraft grated parmesan/romano cheese (same amount) to cut down on the carbs. I also added and extra garlic clove and a small shallot! Instead of frying and then finishing in the oven, I cooked them on the grill! I put them over a flash boiled broccoli/carrot slaw mix instead of orzo to also reduce the carbs. I will definitely make this again!

OMG!

Because I was in a hurry, I accidentally added all of the parsley to the meatballs instead of dividing the parsley to be added later. I also cooked the meatballs slightly longer than suggested because I found the temperature I was originally at was insufficient. Besides these slight mishaps, I followed the recipe exactly, and found that it was quite delicious. I really enjoyed the warm stinky feta cheese with the meatballs and marinara, and thought that Orzo was a good choice for this meal because it allowed you to get all of the elements into one bite. I decided to cut the recipe serving slightly, only serving two meatballs instead of three, and added veggies on the side to round off the meal. The meal was quick, and by reducing the serving slightly I increased the servings of the dish to 6, reduced the calories slightly, and decreased the cost per serving to approximately 3.30 dollars.

I used very lean ground beef, and 1.25 lbs instead of 1 lb, so some didn't bind together as they should have - still, the meatballs that didn't fall apart while browning came out moist and meaty, the cinnamon and other spices give the meatballs a very unique and awesome flavor - coupled with that salty feta: heaven! Served over leftover egg noodles and was divine.

I used ground beef instead of lamb, otherwise made as directed. I got 27 one inch meatballs! You can really taste the cinnamon which made it seem like an authentic Greek dish. Served with lemon pepper sugar snap peas.

This was outstanding. I used ground turkey and the mediterannean no fat feta and my family thoroughly enjoyed it. It makes more meatballs than it says so I just added more sauce and feta. Really some nice depth of flavors, Thanks so much!

It was delicious!! the tastiest meatballs I have ever cooked! Though I added chopped mushrooms to the mince meat.

This is a great recipe, so flavourful. The cinnamon really adds a nice touch. The only thing I'd change is the baking time. 11 minutes got us meatballs that were slightly pink inside, possibly because ours were a bit larger than the one inch in the recipe. I'd bake it a good 15 minutes next time. We had it with a Cabernet and it was great. I wonder how different it would be with ground beef instead of lamb. It was $10/lb for lamb around here.

I LOVE lamb, but I found this recipe a little blah. Maybe the bottled sauce I used wasn't complementary (WF365 Marinara)? I won't make it again, as it pales in comparison to the CL Lamb Ragu, which is over the top delicious. But, if I did, I would double the salt (definitely underseasoned). And, I would truly make 1" meatballs to get more of that browned flavor throughout (don't know why, as I followed the recipe precisely, but for me, this made 16 1.5 - 2" meatballs, rather than 12 1" meatballs as indicated in the recipe).

I used Turkey in place of the Lamb, and Greek seasoning. Everyone really liked it, a definite one to make again.

We really enjoyed this dish. I only had one egg left, so I used one whole egg instead of two egg whites and that worked particularly well. I also used panko instead of bread crumbs which gave them a light texture. The marinara sauce we found had a strong red bell pepper flavor which I thought really added an extra dimension to the dish.

The taste was good, especially the meatballs, but 2 large egg whites seemed like too much. The meat mixture was too slippery to hold together well without much more work than typically is needed for homemade meatballs. My husband and I both felt that the sauce still tasted like regular marinara sauce, so felt this dish was "kind of Greek". If I make this again, I will try adding oregano, cinnamon, and maybe a little allspice to the sauce to try to get more of a Greek taste to the entire dish.

I made this with an additional clove of garlic, and I used panko because that is what I have on hand. I have banty chickens, so I used 2 small eggs instead of 2 egg whites. I ended up with 17 meatballs, so we each had dinner and I made 4 lunches with the leftovers. Served it with a Thai salad with peppers, radishes and cucumbers: great flavor contrast. My husband raved about this dish. It would be helpful if the recipe said how much orzo to cook dry. 8 ounces? Delicious for dinner or a party.

Very moist and just delicious. I added my seasonings to taste but the recipe is on point. Love it.

WOW! What a meal! I had never made meatballs before. I LOVE lamb and orzo and when I saw this recipe, I just had to try it. It is very easy to make and is spectacular. The meatballs are big, juicy and succulent. The small orzo pasta is fun to eat, and adds a lightness to the meal. The serving size is enough to fill you up and not make you feel guiltly about eating REAL food. Definitely make this recipe. Once you taste it, you will truly understand just how delicious it can be.

My husband loved it! I followed the recipe as written. A word of caution when browning the meatballs- make sure they are browned on all sides. Otherwise, you will need to cook longer in the oven. I will definitely make these again. The lamb was a nice change from ground beef or turkey. Definitely, a company worthy recipe.

Delicious!! I am not a huge fan of meat and hadn't cooked lamb before, but I loved this recipe! My husband loved it as well, we will definitely make this again. Would also be great to serve to guests...it looks very nice coming out of the oven. Two things to note, I got about 15 meatballs and used more than the 2 cups of sauce. Also, I cooked the meatballs a bit longer than suggested, maybe 20 minutes in the oven.

This was pretty darn good. Nice change up from spaghetti. I didn't want to buy orzo since I had rice pilaf on hand. I also used ground turkey for the sake of cost. I followed the rest to the t! It was soo good. The feta is a nice touch too. I served it with the fennel and red onion salad. In my hubs words "the salad paired so well with this meal...is there more?" Definitely earns its 5 stars.

The cinnamon in these meatballs reminded me of the taste of my mother's spaghetti sauce when I was a little girl. It was her 'secret' ingredient. The whole dish was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly except substituted lean ground beef for the lamb. Very good. Will definitely make it again. The Fennel-Onion salad, however, was not as good. My fennel was too hard and the onion was overpowering.

I used panko bread crumbs and made the meatballs ahead of time. I put them in the refrigerator for about 3 hours and they did not fall apart while frying like so many others have stated. This was truly an outstanding dish! The entire family loved it and asked that I make it again!

This is one of my favorite meatball recipes ever! I used ground lamb, which was moist and delicious. The meatballs were easy to make and quicker than I expected. I did cook them a bit longer in the oven - until the sauce started to bubble. I served it with Kale with double garlic because I didn't think my husband would like the fennel/onion salad. My 7 year old loved it, too.

I usually can't get my husband to eat spaghetti but the meatballs and orzo twist were really good. I used ground turkey and whole wheat orzo but followed the recipe besides that. The Fennel-Onion Salad was different and good.

I made these meatballs with a homemade tomato sauce from a different recipe, also greek inspired, for a party and they were a huge hit. The meatballs are very wet, so refrigeration is essential. They also fell apart when I tried to brown them on the stove, so I baked them and then simmered them with the sauce. The wet aspect of the uncooked meatballs meant they were very moist when cooked.

I made this last night and it was great. I deducted one star because I think most people will find the fennel/onion salad too overpowering. I enjoyed it though.

Made this last night and loved it! The cinnamon flavor in the meatballs was delicious. I used ground turkey instead of lamb and it worked fine. The meatballs fell apart a bit on the stovetop but it was still outstanding.

This was out of this world! 3 meatballs (they are huge) are more than enough. My husband surprised me with this last night, and it was delicious. He made the fennel salad that was in the magazine as a size dish, (search for the menu on this site for the quick recipe). Just AWESOME!