On the Lamb: Be a naysayer of storebought meatballs—make your own variety!

Lamb Burger on Homemade Focaccia Bun

Now, there was a story with legs. The four-letter Swedish furniture chain fell into the soup of ill-repute recently when it was discovered their meatballs contained horse-meat. Frankly, I would have expected more imaginative leftover fillers from the minimalist monopoly’s morsels; orphaned nuts and bolts, packaging, wood chips, customer hair tufts, torn up instructions, etc. Fortunately, no little ponies were sacrificed on this side of the pond in the equine fiasco so Canadian and American meatball lovers were spared the horseplay. Whew!

So, for those of you who want to lasso a few decent recipes to make your own meatballs and avoid the dicey dilemma of accidentally wolfing down unknown ranch meat or road kill—read on.  As we all know now, meatballs can be made with any meat…or nuts, grains or veggies.  My favourite filler is lamb. 

Lamb meatballs are easy to make, flavourful, very forgiving and make a wonderful last minute fast-food option when pulled from the freezer, ready-to-cook on a busy weeknight. Alongside a green veggie and salad and voila, supper is served. Watch how prettily they pose on a perch of pasta with a mild parmesan sauce, or on a pizza sliced up with rounds of goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and mint leaves. Try grilling lamb meatballs on metal skewers and serving with a little dollop of tzakiki and a fresh Greek salad to round out the show. For another great twist, add cooked lamb meatballs to your favourite soup.

Here are a few recipes to get you started. Many of these lamb meat mixtures can be used for lamb burgers too! Simply shape the meat into burgers, grill and serve with homemade Focaccia buns, recipe also below.

Lamb Meatballs with two variations

1 cup finely minced onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp butter

2 lbs ground lean lamb

2 eggs, beaten

¼ cup panko breadcrumbs or fine breadcrumbs

Pinch of salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Variation 1)

1/8 tsp each of celery salt, powdered ginger, cardamom, and curry powder

Variation 2)

¼ cup chopped olives

1 tsp freshly grated lemon peel

¼ tsp allspice

Sauté onions and garlic in butter, covered until soft. Do not brown. Combine lamb with egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Divide into two portions. To one add the celery salt mixture. To the second portion add the live mixture. Chill one hour and then form into one-inch balls. Place in a shallow baking dish (do not crowd them) and bake in 400F oven for 15-20 minutes, turning once. If serving as an appetizer, serve with toothpicks and dips of your choice. Personally, I like Tzatziki. For some reason, I cannot make Tzatziki because it makes my eyes very itchy. I can however eat the store-bought versions. Shshshsh…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Minted Lamb Meatballs

1 lb ground lean lamb

1 egg beaten

2 tbsp panko or fine breadcrumbs

2 tbsp each chopped fresh mint and parsley

½ cup chopped blanched spinach or Kale or Arugula (well drained) PS: Blanched means, placed in boiling water and then quickly drained and rinsed in cold water.

Pinch of salt

 ½ tsp cumin

¼ tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill for one hour then form into one-inch balls. Place in a shallow baking dish (do not crowd them) and bake in 400F oven for 15-20 minutes, turning once.

Makes about 48 meatballs

Other possible variations to add to ground lamb for meatballs include:

1/4 cup chopped figs (soaked in warm water, drained) OR

·        ½ cup sun dried tomato dressing and 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning OR

·        ½ cup honey mustard and tbsp. cumin OR

·        ½ cup honey mustard and 1 tbsp Garam Marsala OR

 Try rolling lamb meatballs in ½ cup unsalted cashews or pistachios before baking or grilling on the BBQ. MMMM!

Focaccia Bread or Buns (using breadmaker and oven) Makes two medium focaccias, one large focaccia or 12 buns

1 1/3 cups water

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp white sugar

3 1/3 cups Flour

2 1/4 tsp Breadmaker yeast

Measure these ingredients into the breadpan. Select the dough cycle and press Start. When dough is ready, preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two pizza pans or baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Remove dough from pan and let rest 5-10 min under a tea towel.

1 tbsp Cornmeal for sprinkling on pizza pans.

2 or 3 Minced garlic cloves

1 1/2 tsp Dried Rosemary or 1 tbsp fresh Rosemary

1 1/2 tsp Coarse salt

3 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp grated Parmesan

For Bread: On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into two rounds to about ½ “ thickness. Lightly grease pans and sprinkle with a little cornmeal. Place dough on pans. Cover with heavy tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with garlic, rosemary, and coarse salt and then lightly press into dough. With your fingertips, poke shallow indentations all over the top of the rounds. Pour the olive oil over the top, letting it pool in the indentations. Sprinkle Parmesan on top. Bake bread about 20-25 min or until lightly browned.

TIP: I put an oven liner or foil on the oven’s lower rack (under this pan) while this is baking to prevent the olive oil from spilling over and burning.

For Buns: divide dough evenly into 12 pieces. Lightly grease a large pizza pan or line with parchment paper and sprinkle with a little cornmeal. Cover the dough pieces to be worked with a tea towel so they stay warm and don’t dry out. To shape each bun, pull top of dough to bottom and tuck underneath, as if you were shaping a mushroom. Then, place the rough ball on a bread board, place your hand overtop and roll the dough around in circles (very lightly) under the palm of your hand. Your fingernails should be lightly scratching the breadboard surface—this ensures you don’t press too hard! Place each shaped bun on the baking sheet and cover them as you go. When all pieces are shaped, cover them with a heavy tea towel or greased saran wrap and let them rise for 30 minutes. 

When buns have risen….

Sprinkle with garlic, rosemary, and coarse salt and then lightly press into dough. With your fingertips, poke shallow indentations all over the top of the rounds. With a ¼ teaspoon drizzle a very small amount of olive oil over the top of each bun, letting it pool in the indentations. Sprinkle Parmesan on top. Bake bread about 20-25 min or until lightly browned.

TIP: I put an oven liner or foil on the oven’s lower rack (under this pan) while this is baking to prevent the olive oil from spilling over and burning.