North African Meatballs

5.0(5)

Was relaxing with the Food Network yesterday and I caught Melissa d'Arabian's new show. These looked so delicious I just had to get right on the recipe. She served them with couscous with dried dates and glazed carrots but it's the meatballs that had me drooling.

by Julie Bs Hive·published 2009-08-17

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Meat

Servings

32 1-inch meatballs, 4 serving(s)

Total time

1h 10m

prep 25 min

Calories / serving

482 kcal

Ingredients (25)

serves

2 tablespoons olive oilolive-oil
1/2 small onion, dicedonion
2 garlic cloves, choppedgarlic
1 lemon, the zest oflemon
1/2 cup pitted and chopped briny olive
1/2 cup white winewhite-wine
1/4 cup chicken stock or 1/4 cup brothchicken
1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes or 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoestomato
1 teaspoon light brown sugarbrown-sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
1 pinch ground cinnamoncinnamon
saltsalt
fresh ground pepperpepper
1 eggegg
2 tablespoons tomato pastetomato-paste
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leavescilantro
1 tablespoon minced fresh gingerginger
1 teaspoon ground cumincumin
1 pinch ground cinnamoncinnamon
3/4 lb ground beefground-beef
1/3 cup finely ground rolled oats or 1/3 cup fine breadcrumbs
saltsalt
fresh ground pepperpepper
3 -4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for cookingvegetable-oil
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsleyparsley

01MAKE THE SAUCE:.
02Sauté the onions and garlic in a large saucepan until soft. Add zest and olives; cook for 1 minute. Add wine and deglaze the pan and let reduce for a few minutes. Add stock, tomatoes, sugar, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon. Simmer for about 7 minutes. Season to taste.
03MAKE THE MEATBALLS:.
04Whisk the egg and tomato paste until smooth. Add the cilantro, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon. Mix until well blended. Add in the ground beef and rolled oats and season to taste. Combine well but do not overmix. Make 32 1-inch meatballs.
05Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat and cook meatballs until browned on all sides. Add oil as needed. Add to the sauce and simmer for 20 minutes.
06Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve over couscous with dried dates.

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