Lamb Meatballs with Pita and Hummus
I don't generally think of meatballs as anything more than an add-in for pasta or as part of a meatball sub, but when I stumbled across a recipe for lamb meatballs on Serious Eats that idea got flipped upside down. For some reason, making the meatballs out of lamb just makes them seem like a standalone entree. Combine them with pita, hummus, and a little bit of Greek yogurt, and you're in business.
Lamb Meatballs
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeño pepper
1 shallot
1 lb ground lamb
zest of 1 orange
2 tbsp chopped mint
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
Pita bread
Greek yogurt
Hummus
Start by seeding and slicing the jalapeño pepper and chopping up the shallot. Mince the clove of garlic, throw those chopped aromatics into a pan with a little bit of hot oil and cook for around a minute to let them soften up. Take them off heat and let them cool.
While the shallots, garlic, and jalapeño are cooling, chop up the mint and zest the orange. Then, in a large bowl, mix the ground lamb, mint, orange zest, salt and pepper together. Add the shallots, garlic, and jalapeño, and mix the meat until the various ingredients are evenly dispersed throughout. Roll the meat into meatballs, and set them out on a plate. A pound of lamb should make around 20 meatballs.
Heat some olive oil in a pan or skillet, and cook the meatballs for around ten minutes, until they are nicely browned on all sounds and cooked all the way through. Then, slice up some pita bread, break out some hummus, and top each meatball with a dab of Greek yogurt. The combination of warm, spicy meatballs with the cool of the hummus and yogurt is delicious, and you'll come back for more in no time.
