Spiced Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

• 600 glamb mince
• 1egg, beaten
• 5garlic cloves, 2 minced for meatballs, 3 minced for sauce
• 40 gfresh breadcrumbs
• 2 x 400gtins chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsptomato puree
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• 2onions, 1 grated for meatballs, 1 finely diced for sauce
• 1 tspground cinnamon, for the sauce
• 3 tbspolive oil
• 50 gpine nuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
• 2 tspground coriander
• ½ tspground allspice
• 1 tspdried mint
• ½ tspground allspice, for the sauce
• 2 tbsptahini
• 500 mlvegetable stock
• 15 gfresh mint leaves, torn
• 10 gflat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
• 4flatbreads, warmed (optional)

Method

1. 1Tip the lamb mince, pine nuts, cumin, ground coriander, cinnamon, allspice, dried mint, beaten egg, breadcrumbs, grated onion and 2 minced garlic cloves into a large bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper. Mix with clean hands until completely uniform, no streaks of mince or dry pockets of breadcrumb. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes so the breadcrumbs hydrate and the mix firms up enough to roll cleanly.
2. 2Roll into walnut-sized balls, around 35–40g each, pressing firmly between your palms so they hold their shape. You should get roughly 20. Loose meatballs fall apart in the sauce; compact ones stay whole.
3. 3Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large wide stainless or cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs in two batches, 3–4 minutes a batch, turning until burnished on all sides. Don't crowd the pan; all twenty at once and steam comes out, the meatballs grey, and you've lost the fond that builds the sauce. They don't need to be cooked through yet. Lift onto a plate.
4. 4Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the same pan, with all those sticky brown bits still in it. Fry the diced onion for 7 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and golden at the edges and starting to catch on the fond.
5. 5Add remaining 3 minced garlic cloves, cinnamon and allspice. Fry for 30–60 seconds, stirring constantly, until everything smells warm and fragrant.
6. 6Stir in the tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes, letting the puree darken to a deeper rust; that's the raw tinny edge cooking out. Tip in the chopped tomatoes and the stock, scraping up the fond from the bottom. Season, and simmer for 6 minutes until the sauce thickens and the oil pools at the edges.
7. 7Nestle the meatballs back into the sauce along with any resting juices. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer gently for 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce is glossy and fragrant.
8. 8Bring the pan to the table. Mix the tahini with a little water until pourable, then drizzle it over the meatballs in lazy ribbons, scatter generously with torn mint and the optional chopped parsley if using, and serve straight from the pan with the optional warm flatbreads if using to mop up the sauce.

Per serving

kcal

508

protein

26.8g

fibre

5.2g

carbs

24g

fat

34.7g