Me: “Do you have ground lamb?”
Friendly Guy at Boucherie de Tours: “Sure.”
Me: Turkey?
FGBT: “Breast or thigh?”
Me, realizing they grind everything to order and appreciating that the butcher even cares to ask when most ground meat is a mix of whatever fatty bits are left after butchering the prime cuts: “Thigh.”
Now that is a butcher. As overpriced as fruit and vegetables are at the Atwater Market, the butcher shops can’t be beat.
I went with fattier thigh since I was going to brown these (which cooks out some of the fat) but still wanted them juicy (which requires using fattier meat). I could have easily gone with leaner breast and had excellent results because I was mixing it with fatty ground lamb, but it was an indulgence. Your call.
Big, browned and baked, these meatballs are heavenly. I wanted a Swedish-style meatball with a sweet sauce, so I made a simple tomato sauce and added my homemade currant jam. You could add sugar or cherry jam and it would work just fine.
And sure, you could do this with regular pasta, but I’m working my way through seven large zucchini that popped up in my garden in the last two weeks. So raw zucchini pasta it was. Feel free to use regular pasta if you don’t have zucchini taking over your life.
Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles
The More Complicated – But Better – Way:
1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb ground lamb
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup kasusuke (these are the lees left over from making sake or makgeolli. If you do’t happen to have it lying around, pulse 1/4 cup short grain rice in a blender or food processor until it’s in small pieces, then cook in 1/2 cup water and cool before using)
1 egg, beaten with a fork
4 sorrel leaves and stems, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
The Easier Way:
1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 lbs ground meat (turkey, chicken, lamb, beef or pork)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten with a fork
1/4 cup minced parsley leaves and stems
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
The Sauce:
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 – 1/2 cup red currant jelly (or cherry jam)
The Noodles:
2 medium zucchini (or one forearm sized monstrosity of a zuke)
Directions:
Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium-low heat until softened (about 10 minutes). Scrape into a large bowl with the remaining meatball ingredients. Use your hands to combine and then shape the meatballs into oversized golf balls, about 1 1/2″ in diameter – or 2″ if you like giant meatballs.
Heat a skillet or a large flat-top grill over medium-high heat and brown meatballs in batches, rotating them as each side browns. When browned, remove to a plate or tray until needed. The trick here is to only sear each side for about 30 seconds. You don’t want to cook the meatball through, but you want a seared crust all over the meatballs. So keep the heat up and keep rotating them.
Combine the tomatoes with their juices and 1/4 cup jelly in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the meatballs, stir to coat in sauce and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring the meatballs every few minutes. Cut into a meatball to make sure it’s cooked through (especially if you made 2″ balls). Taste and adjust the sauce by adding the rest of the jelly if necessary (some people like it really sweet) or a little more salt and pepper.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the noodles or grate or spiralize the zucchini noodles. I have a simple hand-grater that makes noodles. They’re not as nice as spiralized noodles, but they’re fine. Place noodles in individual bowls and top with a couple meatballs and some sauce. Garnish with extra parsley or sorrel if you like. Or cheese for lactose-lovers.
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