Meatballs I

So I had recently made something from a cookbook I own that I hadn't used for a while (ie, a few years!). It was a bulgar wheat pilaf with green and red peppers, chickpeas and tahini sauce that Dave had requested for a picnic we were going to with a middle eastern theme. While flipping through the pages after I had made the pilaf, I noticed a meatball recipe from Azerbaijin (a country in Eurasia bounded by the Caspian Sea, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran). The recipe caught my eye because of its unusual sauce made from pomegranate juice. I love meatballs, from spaghetti and meatballs to albondigas tapas, and I just had to try the recipe and I thought that, much as I was on a ravioli kick earlier, I could go on a meatball kick and make all the unusual as well as old favorite meatball recipes I could find and blog about it. Dave realized that he would be benefiting from this blogging idea and he was all for it.

The beef-and-lamb meat mixture was flavored with allspice, paprika, onions and mint. After browning on all sides (it was supposed to be browned in butter, but I substituted olive oil as a healthier alternative - although I shouldn't have mentioned that because once Dave reads that he's going to want me to make it again with butter) and then simmered in a sauce of pomegranate juice (I get mine from The Spanish Table outpost in Berkeley) and chicken broth and sprinkled at the end with chopped mint leaves. I made some steamed rice flavored with salt and butter to go with it, which was the perfect accompaniment to the tangy sauce. Here's a picture of the meatballs (taken before I remembered to sprinkle them with the chopped mint leaves), with the cookbook next to it



Stay tuned for more meatball entries!