I love meatballs so much that I actually bought a meatball cookbook a few years ago. In addition to the meatball recipes I cook, Ken has several in his repertoire. I made meatballs again recently, a version of Moroccan meatballs, or kefta.
When I posted a different kefta recipe about a year ago, I talked about how kefta differ from what we think of meatballs. They usually don’t include anything more than meat and seasonings. The recipe for Meatballs in Herbed Lemon Sauce is a westernized recipe, and in that includes anything egg and breadcrumbs in the meat mixture. Aside from that, it’s a typical Moroccan recipe, designed to be cooked in a tagine. That’s not surprising, since the recipe comes from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker.
Besides being intended for the tagine, two other elements make this a typical Moroccan dish: it includes salted lemon and the spice blend ras el hanout. Literally “top of the shop,” ras el hanout is a Moroccan spice merchant’s signature blend. Each seller has his/her own version. A few years ago, Ben gave me a packet that his mother-in-law had brought back from a trip to Morocco, where she bought it in the souk. I currently have a commercial blend that I think I bought at Whole Foods. It’s good, but completely different from the other.
I stuck pretty close to the recipe. I used ground beef instead of lamb , but the cookbook says that ground beef, turkey, or chicken are good substitutes. There is an option to use either salted lemon or fresh lemon juice. I usually have a salted lemon in the fridge, so that’s what I included, although I’ve made it with lemon juice in the past, and it’s fine that way. I ran into a problem when it came to adding shredded carrots, however. I had used up all the carrots we had when I made soup the day before. We had baby carrots in the fridge, so I thinly sliced some of those. We agreed that we really liked the carrot coins.
There’s no reason you couldn’t cook this in a deep skillet. You will simply need to watch the liquid, and maybe add more broth. In a tagine, the steam condenses inside the conical lid, falling back into dish. A tagine dish never dries out.
Meatballs in Herbed Lemon Sauce
Meatballs:
- 1 pound ground beef or lamb
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 egg
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Ras el Hanout
- 3/4 cup beef broth
- 1 cup shredded or thinly sliced carrots
- 1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, well drained, blotted dry, and chopped
- 1/2 salted lemon, rinsed and chopped, or 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
In a bowl, using lightly oiled hands, combine meat, onion, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, cumin, paprika, and nutmeg. Add egg and knead until a paste-like consistency. Scoop out about 1 tablespoon of meat mixture and roll into walnut-size balls. Cover and set aside until sauce is prepared.
In the bottom of a tagine, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and ras el hanout and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add broth and bring to a low boil. Stir in carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon or juice, parsley, cilantro, and rosemary.
Gently lower meatballs into the simmering sauce. Cover with tagine lid, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently, 45 minutes to 1 hour, until meatballs are cooked through. (If using a skillet or other pan, check occasionally to make sure the sauce doesn’t dry out, adding extra broth if necessary). Makes 4 servings.
I served the kefta over pearl couscous. It’s not traditional, but it’s the style of couscous we prefer. Normally, I’d make a salad on the side, but we had a bag of green beans that were a nice accompaniment. I put harissa on the table, to add just a bit of heat.
You may notice that the recipe never calls for raising the heat above medium-low. I follow this religiously when I’m cooking in the clay tagine, because I don’t want it to crack over heat that’s too high. This is not a theoretical warning; Ben broke his tagine by being in a hurry and turning up the heat. I don’t have to worry about this if I’m using the one with the metal base, but that tagine is larger, and I generally use it when I’m cooking for more people than just Ken and myself. But it does take so long for the sauce to come to a boil.
I’m not sure whether I prefer this recipe or the other one. Plus, I have a third kefta recipe with a tomato-based sauce that I haven’t made in years. I think that will be on our menu soon 😀
Happy eating!
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