These super-juicy lamb meatballs are packed full of flavour and texture and filled with spices, nuts and fruits. They are similar in many ways to their Sicilian and Balearic cousins, which are more usually made with pork meat.
Middle Eastern supermarkets sell two types of sour cherries – you want the less tart, sweetened ones for this recipe. (The red ones are mouth-puckering sour.)
Here I’ve paired the meatballs with a nutty and lemony brown butter with lots of dill, and they are delicious with rice, couscous or mashed potatoes, or simply a dollop of thick yoghurt. A good, rich tomato sauce will also work well.
Serves 4–6; makes 26 meatballs
500g minced lamb
100g shelled green pistachio nuts, finely chopped
2 large free-range eggs
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely grated
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a handful of sweetened sour cherries, pitted and chopped (see introduction, above)
a bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the brown butter
150g unsalted butter, chopped
1 lemon, halved
fronds of 1 bunch dill, roughly chopped
To make the meatballs, place the lamb, pistachios, eggs, garlic, onion, ground cumin and cinnamon, sour cherries and fresh coriander in a bowl. Season well with salt and pepper and use your hands to mix together until fully combined. Divide the mix into 26 equal portions and roll into balls the size of ping-pong balls. Place them on a tray and transfer to the fridge for at least 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.
Heat a good splash of olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium-low heat. When it is hot, add as many meatballs as will fit without overcrowding the pan. Fry for 12 minutes or so until they are nicely browned with a crust all over and the juices run clear when you cut one open. Set aside and keep warm if you have to cook in batches.
When all the meatballs have been cooked, add the butter to the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape the base to transfer any sediment into the butter. When the butter starts to foam and turns a nutty brown, squeeze in the lemon juice. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the dill and season.
Baste all the meatballs with the butter sauce and then serve.