Familiar enough to qualify as comfort food, yet just different enough to be new and interesting. I love the 50/50 combination of the beef and lamb, and the sauce is perfectly spiced with the warmth of cumin, ginger and cinnamon.
Serve these with toasted pita bread for an excellent make-ahead dinner.
PrintSaucy Beef and Lamb Meatballs
- Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 2 tablespoons onion (finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon fresh garlic (finely minced)
- 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint (minced)
- 1/2lb ground sirloin
- 1/2lb ground lamb
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (divided)
- 1 Large egg (lightly beaten)
- 1/2 cup onion (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 15oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons onion and garlic to the pan; cook 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool slightly. Combine onion mixture, breadcrumbs and mint, add lamb, beef, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and egg. Stir gently. Shape into 30 1-inch meatballs. If you have time, put them in the refrigerator of ran hour or so to firm up…this will make them easier to brown.
Heat pan to medium high with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and add meatballs. Cook 4 minutes or so to brown them on all sides. Remove meatballs from pan. Add 1/2 cup onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add ginger, cumin, cinnamon and crushed tomatoes and simmer of t5 minutes. Stir in the water, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Return meatballs to pan and simmer for 20 minutes or until done. Garnish with additional chopped fresh mint if desired.
cookinginsens
February 3, 2014 at 10:01 amA delicious looking big bowl of meatballs. I love it!