Lamb Meatballs

Recipe

Thanks Natalie for the Best Meat Recipes cookbook a few Christmases back!  Unfortunately, most of the recipes involve equipment beyond what my humble NYC kitchen supports (e.g., grilling) or premium cuts of meat you just can't get at Morton Williams.  This one took two tries on the latter point, but was well worth the effort.

1 lb ground lamb
1 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 cup + 3 tbsp yogurt
1 slice of bread, crumbled
1 clove garlic, minced
oil
fixin's (pita, pasta, rice, greens, etc.)

Combine the lamb, cumin, cayenne, 2 tbsp cilatro, 3 tbsp yogurt and bread crumbs in a large bowl - get in there up to your elbows to mix it up.  Then gently roll into meatballs of about an inch.  Freeze for a few minutes.  Heat oil in a pan (medium-high), in go the balls.  Brown about two minutes, flip, lower heat (medium), cook another six minutes; couldn't help rolling them around a little to make sure they cook through.  Combine the yogurt, garlic, remaining cilatro and a bit of cayenne and salt as a sauce.

Outcome

Technically I did this recipe with about .88 lb of meat and didn't hold back too much on the cayenne, so it came out very flavorful.  I ended up with about a dozen meatballs, enough for two with some pasta and spinach to go with.  Most were cooked about right - little to no pink, with a nice brown crust.  Fun and not too difficult to put together!