This is a recipe I have in my monthly rotation for nearly two years now and it hasn’t made its way onto the blog, because I always forgot to write down the measurements. Last week, I finally remembered and here it is: Lamb meatballs with lemon and olives.
The recipe is adapted from a BBC Good Food Recipe, which turned out ok, but had a few flaws in my opinion. I was especially unhappy with the sauce, that tasted way too bland and way too sharp from all the lemon at once. So I adjusted the seasoning and dialed back the lemon and ended up with a version I absolutely adore. I hope you will too!
Lamb Meatballs with Lemon and Olives
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- ½ cup parsley finely chopped
- 1 lemon zest
- 2 tsp cumin ground
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon ground
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp coriander ground
- 500 g minced lamb
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
For the sauce:
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp ginger fresh and grated
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp cumin ground
- 2 cups lamb stock
- 1 cup kalamata olives pitted
- 1 lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together with your hands.
- Form 1 inch / 2,5 cm sized meatballs and set them aside.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat, add a splash of olive oil and cook the onion in it, until it’s soft and translucent, ca. 5 minutes.
- Carefully add the meatballs to the pan and cook them around 5-10 minutes until they are slightly brown on all sides.
- Add all the spices and the tomato puree and fry for another minute.
- Finally add the lamb stock, the olives and the lemon juice to the pan.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes on low heat or until the sauce has sufficiently thickened.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with flatbread and couscous.