Beef Kofta Stuffed Apples

8/28/2014

Rosh Hashana is coming up fast and I have been thinking a lot about different recipes to post.

My husband envisioned a recipe like this about a year ago, but never brought it to life. His was much more complicated and involved a phyllo dough purse enveloping the apples. I told him that was way to complicated and with all the Rosh Hashana cooking we are making and I’m sure you are as well, it was much too time consuming. Therefore, we came up with, in essences, a meatball mixture inside of an apple. Festive apples for Rosh Hashana, yet very practical and pretty for a meal.

This is definitely a show stopper dish that everyone will enjoy! If you find yourself with extra meat and don’t want to fill more apples, these are great when baked as meatballs or even grilled for a nice flavorful twist on hamburger.

Beef Kofta Stuffed Apples

Makes 6-8 Servings

6-8 Gala Apples, Cut 1/2 inch off the top and core center, leaving the outside to form a cup. (reserve top and all the extra cored apple pieces)

1 Egg

½ Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

3 (3 tsp.) Garlic Cloves, minced

1/4 Cup Fresh Mint, finely chopped

1 tsp. Ground Coriander

1 tsp. Ground All Spice

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

¼ Cup Pinenuts, toasted (optional)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

1 lb . Ground Beef

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a muffin tin.

Dice the extra insides of the apple that you cored, removing the seeds.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk egg, panko, garlic, mint, cumin, all spice, cinnamon, pinenuts, cored diced apple pieces, salt and pepper. Crumble in beef and gently mix. Do not overwork.

Stuff the cored apple cups with the meat mixture.

Place the apples in the greased muffin tin, one apple per muffin mold. Place the top (stem and all) of each apple on top of the apple and meat cup, leaving a bit of the meat exposed.

In the preheated oven, bake the apples, uncovered for 45 minutes until they become soft and juicy.

Serve warm.