Mini lamb meatballs with spicy Moroccan inspired dipping sauce

Mini Lamb Meatballs with Moroccan inspired dipping sauce

In a bowl add:
- 1 lb ground lamb
- Splash of worstershire sauce

In a blender pulse/grind the following: 

- 1 slice bread

- 1/4 red onion

- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 sprigs of mint, remove and wash leaves

- 2 sprigs parsley, remove and wash leaves

- zest of 1 lemon

- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses 

- Salt & black pepper

- 1 large egg

Add the marinade to the lamb and gently blend it, do not over mix.  Let it sit out until it comes to room temp, about 30-40 minutes. 

In a saucepan heat oil (I used grape seed oil for the browning, don't waste olive oil on this task) 

Brown the meatballs on all sides in batches as not to overcrowd, in a large skillet I could finish the pound of meat in 2 batches.

When cooking lamb you do not want to overcook so it just comes down to browning them and then remove them by placing them on a paper towel lined plate, they could still cook at this stage so take them out a little early.  Brown on high heat in hot oil as not to let them get grey and soggy but let them brown instantly on all sides without overcooking the middles too much, use a splatter guard as it will splash because the ground lamb contains a lot of fat inside it. 

Set the meatballs aside. 

Spicey tomato dipping sauce: 

This is an interesting recipe, I actually created it using leftover pizza sauce I made the previous day (which I grated ginger into, I love my ginger pizza sauce!! If you haven't seen my previous post on it then click here )
So I had this amazing sauce on hand and simply added abit of spice into it. 

When I began with the recipe for pizza I did the following: 

- 1 1/2 cups strained tomato sauce from a jar

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tsp ground ginger

- 1 large piece of ginger, about twice the size of a thumb, peeled and grated. 

Salt & black pepper

I simmered all of this until the tomato sauce was thick and delicious with an intense ginger flavour. Spread on pizza and you're good to go. 

For the meatball dipping sauce I began with the following: 

Add to a shallow pan: 

- 1 1/2 tsp oil

- 1/4 tsp cumin seed

- 1/2 tsp spanish paprika

- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp lemon zest

- 1 tbsp harissa (I buy a can, divide and freeze in small cubes for future use) 

- 2 tbsp chopped roasted red pepper (I buy them on sale and roast in the oven covered with olive oil on 400 until soft with blistering skins, they go into a jar with olive oil and into the fridge after peeling) 

This recipe is very versatile, just use whatever you got on hand, if you don't have something here then omit it, that's kinda how I cook so I happened to just have these ingredients (harissa/roasted red pepper) in the fridge and so they went in.  If you want a basic sauce recipe just go with the tomato/ginger and spices, and it'll be delicious! 

You can put the meatballs in the sauce or serve separately, if you think your guests would prefer a little variety why not put the red sauce in one bowl and then do a yogurt dipping sauce in the other (1 cup yogurt, chopped mint,1 tsp lemon juice, salt, black pepper) 

Here I have a saffron rice with peas, and a roasted eggplant dish, yogurt, tea and it's quite a party! 

Eggplants are roasted on the fire (on the BBQ) until skins are blistering.  I remove the skins and seedy innards and reserve the flesh.  I chop on a cutting board to the point where it's like a dip and add smashed/grated garlic to this too, season with salt, 2 tbsp lemon juice, drizzle a tbsp of tahini over and blend..  Garnish with pomegranate seeds.   Just have fun with it!

Thank you for stopping by ;)

Citrus curds and Raspberries

Here are some fun ideas!

The other day my mum and I made a lime curd, what a great way to use up all those egg yolks from the very white sprinkle party cake with swiss meringue buttercream
Originally we wanted to make a lemon curd but no lemons on hand so limes worked just great. I really love limes, it wasn't until someone pointed out that they taste different that I ever thought about it because whatever is on sale is usually what I buy and don't really notice the difference in salads and such.

So onto the curd, it was quite easy. I used this recipe thanks to Goodlife eats.

lime curd

1/2 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar
8 egg yolks
10 tablespoons butter, sliced into tablespoons

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine the juice(s), zest, and sugar. Heat over medium heat until simmering. Turn heat to low.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl until smooth. Slowly pour half of the citrus mixture into the yolks while vigorously whisking. Return the amount in the bowl to the saucepan.

Continue to cook over low heat while whisking until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. About 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.

Cool to room temperature, then store refrigerated in an airtight container for about a week.

Now with your curd you can either enjoy with a scone like we did, tastes great with raspberries for some reason!

Or you can put together a simple yet fancy dessert by whipping up some heavy cream with powder sugar and vanilla into a light whip cream then folding some curd into it and layering it with raspberries (or any fruit of your liking)

If you have leftover pound cake or any cake try layering it with the fluffy curd and fruit.

Delicious!

I had a lot of raspberries on hand as well so I made a raspberry BBQ sauce for short ribs, that turned out really nice too!

Smoosh your raspberries in a pot and add brown sugar, balsamic vinegar a hint of molasses, salt, black pepper, a bit of tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder and cook until reduced.

Keep tasting and adjusting it depending on your taste then strain (to remove seed) and refrigerate until ready to use.

Key Lime Bundt Cake

I'm all about seasonal freshness and local food, if I see vine tomatoes but the sign says product of usa or mexico and I'd much rather go for the hothouse tomatoes grown locally.

I'm also a bargain hunter so today I saw key limes, tons of them on the clearance rack, two little sacks choved onto a tray and wrapped up with plastic and a sign that says 1.49. I figured I'd give them a try since they looked pretty ok and I've been eyeing them over the summer but their price is usually close to $4.

The key lime always confused me, I've never tasted them before and I hear they are used for pie - the fameous key lime pie - but I don't have much of a sweet tooth and pie isn't my thing really, especially a citrus pie with meringue .. not my thing at all (please don't kill me lol)

When I was younger in pakistan my mother used to give us a lime type of fruit that was very sweet, and delicious but this isn't the same thing at all. I've not yet located any of those in the west yet, but my search over those sugary limes is not over yet!

Wiki says key limes are loomi amani, which is a dry lime that is brown in color used in arabic food, to flavour stews and rice, and all sorts of dishes, very popular in southern iraqi cuisine, as well as all over the gulf and parts of the middle east as well as persia where it's called leemo. Being of middle eastern backround I can work with this.

If I can dry the rest of these babies successfully (unlike the baby cherry peppers I hung from my window which resulted in a scary moldy interior -ewe! ) then all should be well and I'll have a huge stock of some dry lime for my cooking.

Not a fan of the pie as I said so a cake sounded just right. I LOVE CAKES! Especially plain sort of cakes.

Here's a good time to use the kitchen aid mixer or a hand mixer because you'll have to trust me on this, after zesting and squeezing the juice out of all those little limes the last thing I wanted to do was use a whisk.

Took me a bit to figure out what the breadcrumbs were for, I've debated whether to use panko or ordinary ones and it's a good thing I didn't season my homemade breadcrumbs with salt, pepper or anything like that because I was thinking of it last week.

Upon some searching online I found a blog which mentioned not to use panko, and instead a fine regular sort of breadcrumb so I went for that instead and seems it is a trick used for bundt pans to prevent sticking I guess. Learning something new everyday!

Moving on to the recipe. I've zested close to 10 key limes even though the recipe calls for three, why not I say - go big or go home - and their juice made EXACTLY 1/2 cup for the syrup. Yay!

Upon tasting the batter I found it to be just right, tasted like a green fruit loop to be honest, so I'm glad I went for more zest.

Next time I'll use coconut milk instead of regular, and see how that turns out!
My cake baked for exactly 1 hour, so keep an eye on it, Also I've placed another tray under the bundt to prevent any browning because my oven is hotter than the norm.

Recipe for Key Lime Bundt Cake

Best made the day before. Helpful to have one of those microplane graters for lime zest. I think I use a bit more zest than the recipe calls for. Enjoy!

Fine dry bread crumbs & softened butter (for coating pan)

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz unsalted butter, at room temp.

2 cups sugar

4 extra large or jumbo eggs (I often use 5 large eggs)

1 cup milk

Finely grated zest of 3 limes, preferably key limes

Glaze:

1/2 cup fresh key lime juice or 1/4 cup each lime & lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

Oven 350 degrees

Butter 10 inch tube pan (I use my Bundt pan) and sprinkle w/ bread crumbs (coat - use a lot of butter)

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.

Beat butter till soft, gradually add sugar, beat 'till light & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition.

On lowest speed, alternately add dry ingredients & milk, scraping bowl as nec. and beating just to mix each addition.

Stir in lime zest by hand.

Pour half the batter on one side of pan, half in other. Level top by briskly rotating pan back and forth.

Bake until cake tester comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours. Let cool slightly on wire rack - 10-15 mins.

Stir lime juice and sugar together just to mix.

Place cake rack on tube pan and invert and place rack over foil. Using pastry brush, brush glaze all over warm cake until completely absorbed. Brush on any glaze that drips onto foil.

Let cake cool completely & transfer to cake platter. Let stand loosely covered for several hours or preferably over night. When ready, outside of cake will be completely dry.

Thanks to MMRuth, a chowhound member for this recipe. It is a delicious cake and I'll be making it again and again!!!