13 March 2014

Kezie Foods: Zebra Meatballs [Review by @CaptainKindling]

We got offered a large selection of exotic meats that none of our regular reviewers were brave enough to try so I invited a good friend of mine, and fellow blogger CaptainKindling to give them a try.  If you want to read more of his stuff then head on over to his regular home of Games & Tea and see what you find...

Kezie Foods: Zebra Meatballs

Another day brings another one of Kezie Foods' exotic offerings to my dinner table.  They do  whole range of meatballs from different, unorthodox sources, and the pack included in their food bundle were zebra.  Like kangaroo, this was a meat I'd tried before, but had again been semi-cremated on the barbeque, so I was looking forward to seeing how the meatballs would fare.
Once again I followed Kezie's cooking instructions from their website - as of this point they hadn't steered me wrong yet, and I don't go in for meatballs very often so they're not an area of great experience for me.  In this instance it was a pan-frying job , so after browning off the outside of the meat, I just cooked them for around 5 minutes and they were ready to go!  Kezie recommend serving them up with spaghetti and your favourite sauce, which is the choice I went for, but also suggest just having them with a dipping sauce as a light bite alternative.  Given their quick and easy cooking process that did strike me as a tempting idea, and seeing as I only used half of the pack I might be heading to the supermarket to browse the dips tomorrow!
But I'm getting way ahead of myself.  As I said, for these 6 meatballs I decided to serve them up with spaghetti and sauce.  Normally I'm a fan of my spices so would have liked to go for a tomato and chilli sauce, but I didn't want to run the risk of overpowering the zebra flavour, so I went for a safer option in tomato and basil.

Well first of all Kezie were bang on the money with their cooking instructions.  After browning time plus 5 minutes the meatballs were cooked perfectly throughout without beginning to dry.  I ate the first one after rescuing it from the sauce, so that the flavour would come through uninhibited, and boy what a flavour!  Zebra has a very strong and distinctive gamey flavour to it - strong enough that I probably could have gone for that tomato and chilli sauce without the flavour getting lost.  When mixed into a big forkful along with the spaghetti and tomato & basil sauce the flavour of the zebra still came through.
The meatballs are also very lean compared to beef, and it really comes through in the taste and texture.  As much as I love my carnivorous side, I do feel a little guilty on the old ticker when I'm tucking into a fat steak or juicy burger, but felt fairly guilt-free with zebra.  The only downside is - much like burgers - you're a little limited on how to use them, but if you're planning a meatball dish anyway then they're well worth a go!  Like I said, I'm really looking forward now to seeing how they work on their own with perhaps a barbeque dip...

A pack of 12 zebra meatballs from Kezie cost just £3.15, making them a realistic alternative for an interesting spaghetti dish.  12 should feed two people quite comfortably, as 6 was enough for me alone and I'm quite a big eater!

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