How many times have I prepared the Baked Stuffed Meat Half Moons? 1000? Have you ever seen the recipe published here on my blog Le Ricette di Bea until today? Let me answer you, no. It wasn’t there, nada, you could search comfortably but all in vain. Am I a lazy person? I wouldn’t say so.
However, I admit that I often take many things for granted, in the sense that if they are easy, I think everyone knows how to do them. Sometimes I get upset about this trait of mine. Let me give you an example: to me, everyone knows how to use a cell phone, so when someone asks me “how do you do this?” I look at that person with wide eyes, jaw-dropping, and trembling brow, astounded. Not because I am a technology professor, but simply because I think it’s easy to do, that everyone could know how to do it. One of the unfortunate ones usually is my father, but I think he’s gotten used to it by now. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced something like this, knowing how to do something well and thus assuming the rest of humanity knows how to do it like you. I should work on this point of view.
I link this back to the recipe and this discussion. When I think of the recipes to propose to you, I always look for something easy, quick, and possibly economical, but I almost never think of the “everyday recipes”. So a dish like stuffed half moons never crossed my mind. Then a girl sends me a message through Instagram chat asking me for the recipe for meatless half moons with parsley. And she wanted oven-cooked meat half moons because she always burns them in the pan. So, just like the Classic Plumcake Recipe which I had never published before, here I am with another recipe that fits among the easy and quick meat main courses, a recipe perfect for children.
Below I leave you other recipes, each link is clickable to read the recipe that interests you most, all prepared with ground meat, both mixed and lean only. I also remind you that I look forward to seeing you every morning in the group and on the Facebook fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day every morning!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Valentine's Day
- Energy 757.37 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 33.92 (g) of which sugars 2.83 (g)
- Proteins 56.46 (g)
- Fat 42.99 (g) of which saturated 15.46 (g)of which unsaturated 19.05 (g)
- Fibers 2.68 (g)
- Sodium 1,702.18 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Stuffed Half Moons with Ham
- 10.5 oz ground beef (you can also vary the type of ground meat)
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 tbsps breadcrumbs (for the mixture)
- 2 slices cooked ham (cut thick)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- as needed chopped parsley
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 pinch curry (optional)
- 4 tbsps breadcrumbs
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- as needed chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
You can also add a tablespoon of white wine to further enhance the flavor of the breadcrumb coating of the baked stuffed meat half moons. This time I didn’t have an open bottle of white in the fridge, so I didn’t add it, but I recommend it.
Tools for Baked Stuffed Meat Half Moons Recipe
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Oven
- 1 Parchment paper
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
Steps for Baked Stuffed Meat Half Moons Recipe:
We start the recipe by preparing the ground meat mixture, few ingredients and very few steps to follow. We also turn on the oven to static mode at 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Then pour the ground meat into a bowl, in my case beef, but other types of meat will work just fine. Add the tablespoons of breadcrumbs, a pinch of salt, pepper, a dusting of nutmeg, curry if you like, and an egg yolk. Then take a cutting board and with a knife finely chop the parsley. You’ll need it both in this step and for the external coating of the stuffed meat half moons.
We also add the chopped parsley to the bowl and now work the mixture with your hands. Mix all the ingredients well. Before proceeding, take the thick slices of cooked ham already cut by the deli and cut vertical strips that we’ll gently roll up.
In a plate, pour a couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs, add the parsley we previously chopped, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and work the ingredients with a spoon. As anticipated, you can add a tablespoon of white wine if you have an open bottle, otherwise, don’t worry and proceed.
Now take a sheet of parchment paper and place it inside a baking tray. Sprinkle the bottom with the breadcrumbs we just prepared. Now with your hands, divide the ground meat mixture in half, creating two large meatballs. Place them on the parchment paper and start pressing until you create two large discs. The breadcrumbs we poured earlier will help prevent the meat from sticking to the parchment paper. Arrange the cooked ham strips on one side of the meat disc, cutting the corners if needed, so there’s no problem when we close the half moons.
With the help of the parchment paper, fold the meat over itself, and thus we have obtained the classic stuffed meat half moons, now we just need to seal them well with our hands. Pass both half moons in the breadcrumbs we have on the plate to create a nice, even coating.
As you can see from the photos, I haven’t chopped the parsley too finely for this external coating, while for the filling, it was much finer. Place the half moons back on the parchment paper in the baking tray and bake. Bake for about 10 minutes and then turn the half moons over to the other side and continue baking for another 10 minutes. From here on, turn the stuffed moons with cooked ham over several times to prevent one side from becoming too dark. In total, the cooking time, at least in my case, is about 40 minutes. Obviously, if you see that the meat is not yet cooked, continue, perhaps lowering the temperature since the cooking time will be extended.
In the meantime, prepare a side dish, you can find many recipes on my blog, I’ll leave you some in the Side Dishes Category. Remove the stuffed meat half moons from the oven and serve this easy and quick main course, you’ll see that everyone at home will be super happy. All that’s left is for me to wish you bon appétit and remind you that I’m waiting for you every day on my blog and on all social profiles with lots of recipes and content live from my kitchen! Below you’ll find the box with all the links to become a follower and help me and my recipe site grow. I thank you in advance, a kiss!!!
Recipe Variations
Baked Stuffed Meat Half Moons
You can vary the meat as mentioned earlier, you can replace the cooked ham with prosciutto or speck. You can add white wine as mentioned before. If you like, you can add curry or not, even the nutmeg if you don’t like it, you can leave it out. However, I recommend adding some spices to season the meat, because otherwise it would be bland. Consider also that there is no cheese, which you can still add if you like, a couple of tablespoons of Grana or Parmesan or even Pecorino Romano if you have it available.
