Moroccan-Style (Schweddy) Meatballs

Hope you guys had a great Halloween - pictures of mine to come soon! Instead, here's a little food treat for us all.

You can't make meatballs and NOT think of this SNL skit. I mean the entire time I was cooking this, I was cracking jokes to myself. Man, I love Alec Baldwin, is there anything he can't do...I'd hit that...I digress.

I recently saw this recipe in Everyday with Rachael Ray & bookmarked it as something I wanted to try. Side note - I am now obsessed with cooking / lifestyle magazines (like Real Simple, Martha Stewart, etc...it's all I read on planes now!)

Since I was pretty tired (read: hungover) this Sunday, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to try these Moroccan balls of meat...To be fair, it was just okay in my book - I think it was because I wasn't used to the Moroccan flavors (in my mind why did I still think it would taste like spaghetti?) and it was a bit dry.

Note that the recipe calls for ground lamb, but I used ground turkey...you might want to try ground pork or beef as the balls (heh) turned out a little drier than I had hoped (double heh).

What You'll Need:
+ 2 lbs of ground lamb (turkey, pork, or beef)
+ salt & pepper
+ 1/2 cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
+ 6 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
+ 1 tbsp grated lemon peel
+ 1 tbsp chili powder
+ 1 tbsp sweet paprika
+ 1 tbsp evoo (plus more for drizzling)
+ 1 onion, very finely chopped
+ 1 cup of chicken stock
+ 1 28-oz can fire-roasted diced or crushed tomatoes
+ pinch of ground cloves
+ pinch of ground cinnamon
+ 4 eggs (optional)

Preheat over to 400-degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Combine the ground meat with liberal amounts of salt & pepper, the parsley, 2/3 of the garlic, the lemon peel, chili powder, paprika & cumin to form 1 1/4-inch meatballs.
The recipe said they made 65, I made 50...maybe mine were too big? (big balls) Drizzle with EVOO & roast until browned. The recipe said 10 mins, but I had to do about 18mins for it to look a little crispy.
Meanwhile, in a skillet with high sides or a dutch oven (which I thought was when you farted under the covers & trapped someone in it), heat 1 tbsp of EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the onion & remaining garlic & cook until softened (5-6 mins). Season with salt & pepper. Add the chicken stock & tomatoes & bring to a boil; season with the clove & cinnamon. Cook until thickened, about 10 minutes.Slide in the meatballs & simmer for 5 minutes.
Immediately pour the sauce & meatballs into bowls & crack in the eggs (this is optional). Cover tightly with a plate & let stand for 3 minutes to cook eggs. Serve with flatbread. Let me tell you that I tried this "egg cooking" method & it did NOT work. I had to pop the entire bowl in the microwave for 90 seconds to cook the eggs...so I recommend pre-cooking the egg (sunnyside up or over easy) versus letting the heat from the bowl cook it for you. Better safe than sorry! I can't wait to post pictures from my Maryland & DC trip...and also Halloween! Unfortunately my external hard drive won't read on my PC so I'll have to post them tomorrow!

questions? ask here! / twitter tracker