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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2009 16:08:06 GMT
In my family, being able to make meatballs is a benchmark of good cooking. I hope my mother never reads this, but I'm not as over the moon about Sicilian meatballs as I'm expected to be, even though I like them very much. My son is an expert meatball maker -- much better than I.
There are so many kinds of meatballs in so many cultures. It would be great to compile a group of recipes here featuring different meatballs.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2009 16:17:35 GMT
These are the meatballs I made yesterday. In fact, I'm reheating them even as I type. First is the real, complete recipe. However, I've had these meatballs inumerable times in restaurants & in homes, & there is tons of leeway. I no longer bother with all the steps, as I'll point out afterwards.
meatballs in "burnt" chipotle sauce serves 6
from the essential cuisines of mexico (2000, clarkson potter) by diana kennedydy
meatballs 6 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/4 teaspoon dried 6 sprigs fresh marjoram, or 1/4 teaspoon dried 1 bay leaf, preferably mexican 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed 8 peppercorns, crushed 2 teaspoons salt 1/3 cup whole milk 1 large egg 2 garlic cloves 1 slice stale bread 12 ounces ground beef 12 ounces ground pork, with some fat 1/3 cup long grain rice, partially cooked (see note) 1 large egg, hard-cooked and finely chopped
sauce 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes 6 chipotle chiles, dried (not canned) 2 tablespoons pork lard or vegetable oil 1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion 2 garlic cloves 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste about 2 1/2 cups beef broth or water
preheat the broiler. meanwhile, make the meatballs: put thyme, marjoram, bay leaf, cumin, peppercorns, salt, milk , raw egg and garlic in a blender and blend until smooth. pour mixture in a bowl and soak the bread in it until mushy, then add the ground meats, rice and hard-cooked egg, work well with your hands. form into 24 meatballs, each about 11/4 inches in diameter; set aside.
to make the sauce, first place tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and broil about 3 inches from the heat, turning once, until charred and slightly mushy.
heat a griddle or comal (a mexican griddle), or a nonstick skillet and add the chiles. cook, turning occasionally, until they become soft and flexible. slit chiles open.
heat lard or oil in a heavy pan, and fry the chiles, flattening them with a spatula, until very dark brown, almost black. remove from the pan, leaving the fat. place chiles and broiled tomatoes (skin on) in a blender and blend until smooth.
in same skillet, fry the onion gently, without browning, until soft. crush the garlic, cumin and salt together in a mortar (or spice grinder). add two tablespoons water - to clean the mixture out - and pour the mixture into the pan with the onion. fry, stirring and scraping, over high heat until almost dry, then add the blended tomato mixture and dry over medium-high to high heat, stirring and scraping the bottom constantly, until the sauce has reduced and thickened.
add the broth and meatballs - the sauce should just cover them - cover the pan, reduce heat to low, and cook gently, turning meatballs occasionally, until they are cooked through and spongy, 30 to 45 minutes.
note: to partially cook rice, follow package directions, but cut the cooking time in half, turning off the heat after about 10 minutes instead of 20. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I no longer bother with the rice at all, nor the chopped hard-boiled egg. Also, I don't broil the tomatoes first, simply cook them longer in order to reduce them. Toasting the chiles & then frying them is overkill. Skip slitting them, & simply fry them.
I always use water instead of broth. The ones I made yesterday were from @ a pound & a quarter of pork -- no beef. Also, I use much more onion than called for, and chopped, not sliced.
You might want to put a pinch of baking soda in the tomato sauce to keep it from being too acid.
You can make it one time the long way, just so you'll know it, but feel free to innovate after that.
This is a great dish for anyone who likes spicy food, and you can make it less piquant by adding fewer chiles.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 18:33:13 GMT
Meatballs are not really a part of French culture, so I never learned to make them. However, nobody has anything against them in France, since ground seasoned meat is stuffed into all sorts of items, sausages are extremely popular, as are meat sauces -- it's all meatball material just presented a different way.
In recent years, I have started buying meatballs on a semi-regular basis in the frozen food section. Actually they are called "boulettes au boeuf" (meatballs with beef) rather than "boulettes de boeuf" (beef meatballs) because there is more than beef in there -- there is also soy meal. They taste fine to me, so I don't mind the soy, but I know that this is just to make them cheaper.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2009 18:44:46 GMT
I guess all meatballs have filler, not just to extend the meat, but to make it hold together well while cooking. Are the ones you get in any kind of sauce, or meant to be cooked up in a sauce the purchaser provides?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 18:48:44 GMT
No, they are loose in a box of 30 to be used with whatever sauce you want to invent (or pour out of a can).
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2009 18:54:06 GMT
A thing my-son-the-master-meatball-maker taught me: you don't have simmer a tomato sauce for hours like the ancient nonnas of myth. Get a large can (!) of tomato sauce -- he recommends Hunt's -- and cook the meatballs in it. By the time the meatballs are done, the sauce is nicely mellowed. Of course you could add your own touch of a little sugar or basil.
If the boulettes you're buying are already cooked, simply start the sauce earlier and let it cook down a bit before adding the balls.
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Post by tillystar on Feb 25, 2009 19:09:03 GMT
This was a recent invention. Whether we use storemade or fresh meatballs and tomato sauce depends on how bothered I am or if it is a work night or not.
Meatballs - beef mince, Black Pepper, breadcrumbs, egg all mixed and mashed up together and rolled into balls or pre-made ones from the butchers or the ones K can get!
Sauce
1 chopped onion 2 red peppers Tin of tomatoes or fresh tom sauce heaped tsp paprika large pinch of chilli flakes
Grill meatballs on a high heat so they are browned on the outside while you soften the onions and peppers very slowly till mushy. Once they are soft as soft can be add the paprika and chilli stir around well cook a little and add the tomatoes. Get bubbling and then add the browned meatballs, turn the temp down, put a load on and cook for 15 mins.
I chucked in a dying aubergine with the peppers last time and it made the sauce really silky.
I have got a meatball recipe from MrStar's Mum which is a bit special. Its one of those legendary family recipes where everyone gets excited that thats for dinner and argues over who has taken too many. I have only made them myself one as they are a bit of a faff to make for a couple of people but they are very special. I will dig it out soon and post.
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Post by hwinpp on Feb 26, 2009 8:01:03 GMT
Not exactly meat balls but flattened Thai/Khmer fish balls, tord man pla: - debone a piece of fish with 'dry' meat - chop it up, easiest and fastest with a knife/chopper in each hand, gives it a finer consistency - mix with a sprinkling of finely chopped kaffir lime leaves (they're what gives them the typical flavour), some red curry paste (mainly for colour, not aroma) and thinly sliced long beans, add a dash of fish sauce. Don't add coriander, it'll just burn and spoil everything - mix with an eggwhite so they don't fall apart when deep frying - roll them into a ball then flatten them, should be about half a cm thick and 6- 10 cm in diameter - deep fry until golden, somehow get rid of excess oil, serve with a clear sweet chili sauce mixed with finely chopped, fresh coriander Hope it works out and I haven't forgotten anything. If you google image 'Thai fish patties' you'll get a lot of pics, most of them look too thick and too rough because the fish was ground rather than chopped. They look like hamburgers in fact. These look about right:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2009 9:52:19 GMT
Actually that photo looks quite good to me. I often have trouble making things like that hold together in the frying pan. Some day somebody will invent some sort of all-purpose "cooking glue" that will solve the problem without actually having to follow the recipe perfectly.
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Post by hwinpp on Feb 26, 2009 10:47:10 GMT
Yes, it does. Also gives you an idea about how many beans and lime leaves to cut up. In the background is the dip, coriander plainly in view though I don't know what the light coloured stuff is, maybe shredded sour mango.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 26, 2009 14:47:04 GMT
The best way I've ever found for draining fried food: use a cardboard egg carton. All the hills and valleys in it insure that the food doesn't lie flat in its own grease while draining and of course the cardboard is absorbing the grease. If you live in an area where eggs don't come in cardboard cartons, use a cake rack or something similar. Place it over anything absorbent -- the food won't be coming into contact with that -- and it will drain nicely since it's not setting in its own grease.
try mixing in a small amount of cornstarch.
Oh yeah ~~ the fish sounds great!
Tilly, I love the idea of that sauce -- the sweet red peppers would offset the tomatoes' acidity plus give texture, the paprika would give it some flavor heft and interest, & the chile would spark it. A 3-pepper sauce - yum!
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Post by hwinpp on Feb 27, 2009 3:35:31 GMT
The best way I've ever found for draining fried food: use a cardboard egg carton. All the hills and valleys in it insure that the food doesn't lie flat in its own grease while draining and of course the cardboard is absorbing the grease. If you live in an area where eggs don't come in cardboard cartons, use a cake rack or something similar. Place it over anything absorbent -- the food won't be coming into contact with that -- and it will drain nicely since it's not setting in its own grease. try mixing in a small amount of cornstarch. Oh yeah ~~ the fish sounds great! Annie, I love the idea of that sauce -- the sweet red peppers would offset the tomatoes' acidity plus give texture, the paprika would give it some flavor heft and interest, & the chile would spark it. A 3-pepper sauce - yum! I put them on newspaper, not the best way of de- oiling them. Will look for alternatives. No egg cartons here... Corn starch sounds ok and I can get it here.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 27, 2009 5:02:49 GMT
Either use a cake rack, H, or try loosely crumpling the newspaper to help the oil drain away from the fish cakes. You can see how the cake rack has minimum surface for the food to touch, which lets the oil drain more easily.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Feb 27, 2009 8:41:54 GMT
I bake meatballs in a rimmed baking pan. The meat here is so lean that I have to spray the pan with Pam™. When they are done (usually in about 25-30 minutes @ 375ºF, I lift them up with an egg turner-spatula. There's almost no excess fat. I have to ask the butcher to add some fat, "para que las albóndigas salgan jugosas." That might have a secondary, ribald meaning, but I don't worry about it
I usually simmer them another 30 minutes in a tomato sauce, either "Italian" or chipotle, before using or storing them away in freezer containers. (I do let them cool thoroughly before closing the lids and freezing.)
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 27, 2009 12:57:04 GMT
I make beeff meatballs - though I flatten them to make frying easier. A slice of bread reduced to crumbs in the processor, onion and garlic whizzed in, beef mince added with s & p, and a little bit of red wine vinegar. Sometimes some parsley. I am not as adenturous as some.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Feb 27, 2009 14:18:39 GMT
Baz, how does a "flat meatball" differ from a "rissole"? www.wisegeek.com/what-is-rissole.htmShouldn't they be called "meatflats" or "flatballs"? These look like meatballs. When does a meatflat become a "Salisbury Steak"?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2009 14:37:08 GMT
Oh, horrors, I was hoping never to see one of those again.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Feb 27, 2009 15:08:10 GMT
It's all about the gravy, K2.
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Post by hwinpp on Feb 28, 2009 3:33:04 GMT
Meatflats sounds like a place in a splatter movie. I'd prefer flatballs. I quite like the look of the Don's lower photo! The macaronis look very cheesy!
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Post by Don Cuevas on Feb 28, 2009 19:07:53 GMT
Today is El Día de Las Albóndigas here in the Municipio de Tzintzuntzan, a tradicíon that was first established here, today by Doña Chucha B. and Don Cuevas. I was planning to pay our rent, then go next door to our gringo neighbor's house, in whose refrigerator freezer I store surplus foods, and pick up a container of "Italian" meatballs in home made tomato sauce. But while paying the rent at Casa Chucha, I smelled the rich and mouthwatering aroma of the comida afternoon dinner) she was preparing. When I asked what was cooking, she said, "Albóndigas". I suggested a swap so that we could sample each other's meatballs. She agreed, and I'm anticipating the arrival of a sample in the next hour or so. She explained that hers were made with rice, marjoram, hierba buena (mint), other herbs I forget, and tomato. No chiles, as the grandson is only 3 or 4 years old and unaccustomed to comida picante.* She plans to serve the albóndigas in their broth, I think, with nopalitos. (Prickly pear cactus pads cut into strips. De-spined, of course. I may cook up the spaghetti soon, so I can offer her some with the meatballs. I have about 8 mb's here, more in the freezer, but we don't need to have so many. *I wonder at what age Mexican children are introduced to chiles in order that they become accustomed to them. EDIT: She brought us the albóndigas in a tasty soup with lots of carrots (cut legthwise as is the custom here), a little potato and some chayote. The meatballs themselves were delicate of texture, with a surprising kick of ¿black pepper? when I bit into the first one. Overall, very light and tasty. My defrosted "Italian" style meatballs, in red tomato sauce were richer, spicier and heavier. I could only eat one of mine after two of hers. The nopalitos were coarsely chopped, cooked with tomato and onion and a little touch of chile perón (also called chile manzano). It was refreshing, as nopales tend to be. Chile manzano Nopalitos (prepared somewhat differently than Señora Chucha's)
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 31, 2010 6:47:26 GMT
Elsewhere, more recently, Bixa wrote: "There is also a meatball thread, strangely devoid of a Cuevian recipe: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/ind....444&page=1#6487 " Here's a recipe that should satisfy your meatball cravings. Naked, Quivering Meatballs, (or, Palpitating Polpettini)Based on a recipe in Marcella Hazan’s The Classic Italian CookbookThis recipe serve 4. It might be worth increasing it so that you have some put away in your freezer. 1/3 cup milk, heated to boiling 1 slice firm, fine-quality white bread, crust removed Mush the two together, allow to cool while you gather the other ingredients. 1 pound or .50 kilo lean ground beef 1 tbsp finely chopped onion 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced (my addition) 1 or more tbsps fresh parsley (basil, thyme, optional) 1 egg a tiny pinch of nutmeg or marjoram. Nutmeg is good. 3 tbsps freshly grated Parmesan cheese vegetable oil, 1 tbsp (I skipped this by mistake) salt, freshly ground pepper to taste. A splash of limoncello (The Cuevian touch) or 1 tsp grated lemon peel. (optional) Fine, dry, unflavored breadcrumbs. 1 cup or more canned Italian tomatoes, cut up, with their juice. OR a simple Italian tomato sauce. I needed at least 3 cups tomatoes/sauce total. Preheat oven to 350-375º F. if baking the meatballs (the easiest way.) Mix all the ingredients together except for the rest of the vegetable ol and the fine dry breadcrumbs. Fry a small patty to taste for seasoning. If all is well, proceed to make approx 1 to 1 1/2” balls, handling gently. Roll in the dry breadcrumbs and set on a aluminum foil covered, Pam-sprayed, rimmed baking sheet. Allow space in between so that the meatballs will brown nicely. Bake in preheated 375º F. oven, about 25 minutes, until well browned. (Some recipes, including the original to this one, call for frying the meatballs, a messier and longer job in which some meatballs are bound to be damaged. Just bake them.) Meanwhile, as meatballs are browning, prepare the tomatoes. I made a simple tomato sauce of crushed Italian tomatoes, Passata Rustica, and canned stewed “Italian style” tomatoes. The sauce need not be overly thick, as the breadcrumbs coating of the meatballs will thicken it slightly. When the meatballs are browned and cooked, allow to cool a few minutes before gently lifting them and loweing into the simmering tomato sauce. Allow to cook slowly at a simmer about 25 minutes. (These are my recipe contributions for the year. These cost me valuable time transcribing them in my action packed, retired lifestyle.) I wonder if anyone on APIAS ever looks these up? Maybe they'll be found by Googlers searching the recipe rubble dumps of Internet history.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2010 17:27:57 GMT
I was reading the Wiki about meatballs, and this kind of amused me: In the United Kingdom, faggots are a type of spicy pork meatball. A faggot is traditionally made from pig heart, liver and fatty belly meat or bacon minced together, with herbs added for flavouring and sometimes breadcrumbs.
In the United States, meatballs are commonly served with spaghetti as in spaghetti and meatballs, a dish in Italian American cuisine, assimilated alongside Italian immigrants coming from southern Italy in the early 19th century. Over time, the dish in both cultures has drifted away from each other in similarity: mix of ground beef, pork and sometimes veal, mixed with breadcrumbs soaked in milk and finely chopped (fried) onions, some broth, and occasionally cream. They are seasoned with white pepper or allspice and salt. In the Southern US, venison or beef is also often mixed with spices and baked into large meatballs that can be served as an entree. I have only ever seen American meatballs served with spaghetti, although I probably would have heard of 'Swedish' meatballs if I had grown up in the area of the Great Lakes. In later years, I know that my mother very much enjoyed frozen Swedish meatballs which were nevertheless always presented with pasta in the frozen food case.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 31, 2010 17:44:26 GMT
kerouac, in France I've had Moroccan tagines of meatballs, some from lamb, some from chicken and almonds (I believe the latter was originally a Sephardic Jewish nuptial dish). (Tajine de kefta) The BBC recipe site includes eggs in this dish, but neither of the versions I ate in Paris included eggs.
I simply make very small meatballs with Maghrebi spices (ras al hanout, cumin, cardamom etc). The chicken and almond powder variety is very delicate. I pan-fry them a bit, do drain the fat, then simmer them in a light tomato sauce, perhaps with some lemon.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 31, 2010 17:51:12 GMT
Yum, DonC! That's pretty much the way I make meatballs. I always use lemon (well, lime here) rind and definitely herbs -- parsley if nothing else. However, I don't use milk to mush the bread. That's because I truly think the milk/egg combination makes the meatballs a little tougher, so I use water instead. Probably wine would work nicely, as well. I've never put oil in the mixture, nor coated the balls in breadcrumbs. You are right about the baking vs. frying! I also simmer them much longer than 25 minutes, as I liked them really soft and soaked with sauce. There are people who put Italian-style meatballs raw into the sauce. I discussed this with my mother and we agreed we're simply incapable of doing this. The first time I did it with Mexican meatballs (see OP), I practically had to hold a gun to my own back. However I think that Progresso brand soup (Italian Wedding Soup?) has meatballs which weren't browned first. I definitely look up recipes in the Anyport recipe index, and can't be the only person who does, as it has @500 views. The faggots sound good! They seem to a sort of haggis or Cajun boudin that is more meaty and without a sheathing. I never heard of the big ball entree style, but why not? I always think of Swedish meatballs as a party food, and doubt I've ever had an authentic version.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2010 18:00:37 GMT
Yes, boulettes are very much a part of Maghrebi cuisine. "Couscous boulettes" is very common on the menu.
However, boulettes are only part of traditional French home cuisine as a way to use whatever leftovers you have. They are often excellent, but there is no recipe because you never know what the ingredients might be. This is exactly the same situation as Cantonese fried rice -- it was just leftovers, but a recipe was finally invented due to popular demand.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 31, 2010 18:08:14 GMT
Oh, LaGatta ~~ I am sorry! I was posting at the same time you were and did not see your extremely interesting references to Maghrebi styles of meatballs. That sounds so appealing. I'm going to try that the very next time I make meatballs. The only thing from that cuisine that I do on a regular basis is to add a tiny drift of cinnamon into my tomato sauce, which slightly sweetens it.
Kerouac, would boulettes be roughly analogous to the various croquettes turned out by thrifty American housewives?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2010 20:45:14 GMT
Not too different. My French grandmother made fried patties (can't remember what she called them) using any leftover meat on hand (usually beef, rabbit, pork...) along with onions and stale bread. We would run it through the old fashioned meat grinder (oh, how my brother and I would love turning the crank), and then there were eggs and probably a drop of milk. Fried, they made a fantastic lunch with potatoes and salad.
This brings me to a question: do you think that meatballs should only be made with leftovers or are they a food item unto themselves that justify the use of major new ingredients?
While I don't mind buying the boxes of frozen meatballs at the store, I think that it would be a problem for me to buy new ingredients just to make meatballs.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 31, 2010 20:59:49 GMT
My answer is automatically "get new ingredients". That's because to me meatballs are something made from raw meat.
Even if you're quite happy with the frozen meatballs, you might want to try making your own at least once to decide if it's worth your while. If you're a meat lover, you can certainly make a meatier product than the probably "stretched" commercial ones. Also, it's useful to make a big batch then freeze them in separated, smaller amounts. If you make them small enough, you can come home from work, get out a bag of them, and quickly simmer them in some sauce or soupy base to suit your fancy.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 31, 2010 22:09:06 GMT
"While I don't mind buying the boxes of frozen meatballs at the store, I think that it would be a problem for me to buy new ingredients just to make meatballs."
It may seem incredible, but I have at least two different recipes for complex lasagne al forno that call first for the making of small meatballs, just so that you can smash them up into the sauce of some of the laminae of the lasagna.
It's one reason why I seldom make lasagna, altough we like it. Como se dice en Español, "No vale la pena."
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Post by lagatta on Jul 31, 2010 23:10:52 GMT
Bixa, I wasn't at home when I wrote that post - I was at a nearby library with high-speed internet access so I could view some things that would take me forever to view here, and post things like the Amsterdam video in the bicycle thread. I didn't want to go searching for Maghrebi meatball (kefta, which can also mean ground meat on skewers) recipes because I was sending the bicycle video to quite a few friends (including Dutch-speakers from Netherlands and Belgium), travel and "slow cycling" sites.
I'm checking, and this is in the recipe board, so I can post recipes if I want.
This recipe is Lebanese, not Maghrebi. I'm sorry, the recipe I have has English, not metric, measurements, but these recipes are more inspirations than scientific formulae. Based on a recipe from Claudia Roden, with some comments by lagatta (this makes it acceptable in terms of copyright)...
Meatballs with pine nuts in tomato sauce
2 medium onions 1 1/2 lb lean ground lamb Salt and pepper 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground allspice 2/2 cup pine nuts olive oil 2 lb tomatoes, peeled or not (I'd peel them if possible) 2 tsp sugar (I'd try to omit, depends on tomato ripeness) 3 garlic cloves
Grate or finely chop the onions in the food processor (me, I'd just do it by hand - I like chopping stuff, note that I don't have a passle of kidlets to feed) and turn them into a bowl. Add the ground lamb with salt, pepper, cinnamon and allspice and work into a paste with your hands. Roll the paste into small walnut-sized balls. Make a hole in each ball with your finger, stuff the cavity with a few pine nuts, and close the hole. If you are not so obsessed, you could work the pine nuts into the meat paste, then roll it into balls.
But for a special supper, I confess the "surprise" of the pine nuts is a worthy perk...
Put a little olive oil in a soup plate or shallow bowl and roll the meatballs in it. Put them in a baking dish and bake in an oven preheated to 400F for 15 to 20 minutes, until their colour changes.
For the sauce, cut up ripe tomatoes and liquefy them in food processor or blender (I use a stick blender). Add a little salt and pepper, sugar if need be, and minced garlic, and pour over meatballs. Bake them for another 35 minutes, turning meatballs once (I'd turn down the oven for this second step).
You can also add some lemon juice of chilli flakes. (I'd add, other things providing a bit of heat, but not overwhelming).
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