I decided on these Merguez meatballs - though she has several other varieties that are also on my "to make" list - because the spice combo sounded really delicious. And indeed when I put the spice mix together, the aroma was amazing with fennel, cumin, paprika, and cinnamon. According to the blog, Merguez is a North African fresh sausage, typically made with lamb, or lamb and beef. I had 1 lb of lamb defrosted and 1/2 lb of venison, so I used that, along with an egg, fresh parsley, and some onion in lieu of the garlic.
This was my first time baking meatballs in the oven (cleaner and easier than pan searing them for sure) and they turned out great - still moist, and to my surprise, still seared seaming on the outside?! (is it the use of an egg in there that does that?) I think they look pretty good too, and the taste was spicy and mild at the same time. I just made a half batch of the spice mix and used the whole thing in my 1 1/2 lbs of meat, which maybe meant my meatballs were a bit more flavored than intended, but I thought it was great. I ate the meatballs with some lemony ghee drizzled on top, which was delish.
I had my meatballs with Cumin Roasted Carrots (just carrots, coconut oil, cumin, salt and pepper) and made double use of the 400 degree oven. They take just a few minutes longer than the meatballs, so put them in the oven first. I was not very uniform in my slicing, and it turns out I liked the thinner ones best. I had overflow from the baking sheet pictured here, and so put some more in a small cake pan. The cake pan is not insulated like my cookie sheet, and the carrots from the pan were my fave, super crispy and a little charred (some were entirely charred and not so good, so watch things closely). They were extra delicious with a little lemon juice splashed on top.
Thank you Clothes Makes the Girl for some more delicious recipes! (plus I just like her attitude - it's very ease-full)
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