Moroccan Lamb Meatballs

  

    

Light and smell dominate the senses in Djemaa el Fna, the market square beneath the Khoutoubia Mosque, gateway to Marrakech's medina.  Flame throwers and snake charmers ply their trades beside food stalls rendering their exotic spiced smells to the skies.  Incandescent bulbs hung from wires across the stalls add to the yellow glow of the night.  People jostle and push, going for a meal or going for your pocket, beggars and backpackers in search of relief to their physical and emotional hunger.  So, to do the lovers next to the Trevi fountain in Rome search for their passion's desires, lit by the flowing water rushing, spraying, splashing.  Trivia, the Roman virgin, being the last thing on their mind.  Until, of course, they smell the artichoke, the eggplant, the meatballs.  

    

Yes, I said meatballs.  Did you hear a scratch in the record too?  Maybe the coin I threw into the Trevi fountain brings my memories back to there, as do the memories of wandering Moroccan medinas.  Maybe I don't think of meatballs when I think of these places I've visited, but I do think, and many times remember, through tastes and smells.  They say that those are the most powerful senses we possess.  Smelling cooking lamb, spices like cumin and coriander certainly gives me flashbacks to Morocco.  Simmering tomato sauce, rosemary, garlic and fennel conjure Italy's Mediterranean fare.  This recipe combines those flavors, those feels, those memories into lovely, lonesome, lust inspiring hunks of cheese filled meat.  Ok, I should stop there.  Let's just say these are good meatballs that made me think of my travels, a crucial element of why I cook.  Andrew Carmellini, of Urban Italian gives us this recipe.  He calls it the Middle East meets Little Italy.  I call it Marrakech meets Rome.  You can call it dinner tonight.

     

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp fennel seed

1 tbsp rosemary, chopped

1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce

1/4 cup goat cheese

1/2 lb merguez sausage

1 lb ground lamb

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

     

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and soften for 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook a minute further.  Add the coriander, fennel, rosemary and cook another minute to release the flavors in the herbs.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  Add the sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer, then cover.  Divide the the goat cheese into 12 pieces, rolling in your hands to make round balls.  Remove the sausage shell casings and with your finger pull apart the sausages into small piecess.  Mix together the sausage, lamb, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, and onion herb mixture.  Use your hands and fingers to mix fully the mixture.  Divide the mixture in half and then those halves themselves in half.  Divide each quarter into thirds and roll those thirds into rough balls.  Make an indentation in each ball with your thumb and insert a goat cheese ball inside.  Form the meat around the cheese and finish rolling the balls into a round shape.  Place the meatballs into the saute pan with the sauce and ensure the sauce is at a simmer, raising the heat if necessary and then lowering again.  Cover the meatballs and cook for 5 minutes.  Turn the meatballs and cook the other side, spooning the sauce on top, about 5 more minutes.  Ladle the meatballs into bowls, on pasta or rice if desired.