Living in a city known for its culinary diversity, I expected to find at least one amazing Greek restaurant that did not feature the word "Cafe" or "Diner" in the name. Despite receiving a high score on the restaurant rating website Urban Spoon, the restaurant we dined at in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis was grossly sub-par. Not only did the food arrive at our table cold, but my lamb, one of their signature dishes that night, was completely inedible - ie: shoe-leather!!! Needless to say, we have been hesitant to seek out another Greek restaurant based on user ratings, and have not received any good recommendations from friends or coworkers since that terrible first experience.
Therefore, when my husband came across some high quality ground lamb at the grocery store, we decided it was high time we created our own Greek feast at home!
After searching through online recipe archives, I came across a recipe for Aromatic Lamb Meatballs, courtesy of Nigella Lawson on foodnetwork.com. I altered just 3 of the ingredients, using freshly grated nutmeg instead of allspice, substituting breadcrumbs for semolina, and using grapeseed oil instead of the vegetable oil.
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Aromatic Lamb Meatballs
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground lamb
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
2-3 tbsp. grapeseed oil for frying
Directions:
In a medium size bowl, mix together the meat, scallions, spices, salt, breadcrumbs, and beaten egg using your hands. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper. Roll the meat mixture into small uniform balls about 1 inch in diameter and place on the wax paper. Dip your fingers in oil if the mixture becomes too sticky to handle.
When you are ready to fry the meatballs, heat the grapeseed oil in the pan to medium-high heat. When oil is hot, fry them for about 3 minutes on each side until they are golden brown.
Line another pan with paper towels and place the cooked meatballs on the towels to drain off excess oil.
These meatballs can be served as an appetizer with a tangy mint-yogurt dipping sauce, or they can be simmered in a fragrant tomato sauce spiced with cumin, coriander, cinnamon, parsley, and onion. I opted for the latter serving suggestion, and it was simply delicious!
Greek Simmering Sauce
Ingredients:
4 cups of freshly chopped tomatoes (or 2 - 15 oz. jars of tomato sauce)
Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. parsley
Directions:
In a medium size saucepan, saute the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent.
Add the fresh tomatoes (or sauce), and all of the spices to the pan. Stir to combine and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes before adding the cooked meatballs to the sauce.
Simmer the meatballs in the sauce for at least 1 hour before serving.
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I highly recommend that you give this recipe a try... and soon! The meatballs and sauce made our entire apartment smell divine, and they were so moist and flavorful that we could have devoured them all, one after another!
We paired these meatballs with a bottle of Grenache, a unique red grape varietal from Spain. The combination was amazing (it was a 1+1 = 3 revelation), and if I'm being totally honest, this may be my favorite food and wine pairing to date! The Grenache had subtle hints of licorice and cinnamon on the nose, with a lovely hint of fruit and spice on the finish that complimented the flavors in this dish perfectly :-)
I may be Italian, but I am unashamed to admit my love for Greece and its culinary masterpieces!
Librarian turned Foodie
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