Not knowing what else to call these bites of nirvana and present without photo (they were just so good!).
On our way home from my daughter's monthly oncology appointment we stopped at a local place up near the hospital for some lamb, her favorite meat. We had watched Worst Cook in America earlier this week and one of the challenges was meatballs. Someone made a lamb meatball stuffed with goat cheese which perked our ears and fired our tastebuds. So today as a treat to my brave girl I got goat cheese and ground lamb and came home pondering how to prepare them. I searched online for a bit and really was not impressed with the recipes I found. It seems there is one Moroccan lamb meatball recipe that is copied heavily and I think is passed off as several writer's own recipe. Disappointing when people cannot give credit where credit is due. :(
So, I wandered the kitchen waiting for a burst of inspiration. My daughter and I love well-spiced foods and I have been craving North African and Middle Eastern fare for ages now. I poked through my files of spice blend recipes and settled on Ras el hanout, a luxuriously spiced blend from Morocco. I used to keep a rady-made jar of this but haven't gotten around to making a new batch, so the measurements below are only for this one recipe. Not having watched the above-mentioned show that closely I had no idea how the meatballs were assembled. I took bits of the ground meat mixture, flattened them and in the centre of the circle added about a teaspoon or so of goat cheese before sealing it into the meatball. The outcome was absolutely divine, however I think next time I'll allow the meat mixture to sit in the refrigerator for an hour to let the flavors really develop. We also needed a sauce of some sort but lacked the patience and ingredients for a yogurt-based mint and cucumber concoction we agreed would go well with these bites of heaven.
1lb ground lamb
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
2 TB brown rice flour
1/2tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 ts ground cayenne
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8tsp ground anise
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Mix all above ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.
about 8oz goat cheese
1-2 TB olive oil
Scoop about 1 tablespoon of meat mixture, flatten into a circle and add 1-2 tsp of goat cheese to center, seal up and roll into a ball.
In a large fry pan over medium high heat heat olive oil and place meatballs in (don't crowd) and cook until golden brown, turning several times gently, about 5 min each side or until done.
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