Bosnian Lamb Meatballs with Caraway Yogurt

 

 
Think of the above photo as a serving suggestion, sort of a "Do as I say not as I did."  If you serve them appropriately your results will be much better then mine. I made these meatballs for dinner the other night and while they were cooking Sebastian came into the kitchen to ask the inevitable, "What's for dinner?"  When I told him we were having Bosnian lamb meatballs with a caraway yogurt sauce he was happy.  I had never served them before but at almost 10 years old he is starting to be a little foodie, excited by many of the things he has the opportunity to eat.

After the initial questioning he came back in several times and happily sniffed the air.  The scent of the lamb roasting with fresh rosemary, thyme and mace was delicious on its own even before I added the caraway and yogurt sauce.  If only I had taken a moment to plate it attractively, before bringing it to the table, allowing it to look as good as it smelled.  Instead I plunked it on the table straight from the oven surrounded by the extra yogurt sauce.  Julian took one look and refused to have any, choosing to have a vegetarian dinner.  I could tell Sebastian's initial reaction was not to have any either, but the smell and his anticipation was too much for him.  He carefully selected the balls with the least amount of yogurt showing and ate them somewhat tentatively.  Next time I will be more careful with presentation, they were good enough to make again.

When preparing this dish in your own kitchen, instead of serving this...

I suggest you bring this to the table

Bosnian Lamb Meatballs with Caraway Yogurt Sauce

Adapted from Half a Can of Tomato Paste and Other Culinary Dilemmas

Meatballs:

1 lb ground lamb (you can sub beef)

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

2 Tbsp minced dried onions

3 eggs

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 tsp minced fresh rosemary or pinch of dried

1/4 tsp minced fresh thyme or pinch of dried

1/4 tsp ground mace

Yogurt sauce:

1 Tbsp caraway seeds

1 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup milk, buttermilk or sour cream

2 Tbsp minced fresh mint or parsley (optional because I did not have any)

Preheat the oven to 375°

Mix together the lamb meatball ingredients.  Butter and flour a square baking pan, 9 x 9 x 2 inch and place the balls in the pan in one layer.  I found the mixture was very wet and hard to form into neat balls, I just used a small measured ice cream scoop and let them be a bit more free form.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the balls are cooked though.

Grind the caraway seeds in a spice grinder or pulverize in a mortar and pestle before combining with the other sauce ingredients.  Let stand at room temperature while the meat balls finish cooking.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 325°.  Allow the meatballs to rest for 10 minutes while the oven temperature goes down.  After 10 minutes pour the sauce over the meatballs and stir to coat them in sauce and mix in the pan drippings.  Return the pan to the oven and cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes to allow the sauce to warm and reduce.  To serve remove the cooked meatballs from the baking dish and place on a bed of kale or other green.

Yogurt Rolls

The main problem with recipes that I have memorized is sometimes I forget to add an ingredient. Someday I can post a chart here about every ingredient except flour and milk in my pancakes and what happens when you leave them out. I have my everyday bread recipe memorized and I rarely refer to the recipes it is based on. After all their ingredients and technique are wrong. On Friday I needed to make bread as we were all out, however I also had to leave the house at 10 A.M. and I was not going to be back until dinner time. No problem, my husband would be home by 12:30, so with a quick tutorial on loaf shaping, Lewis agreed to form and bake the bread. (He was a little apprehensive). For some reason the bread took a lot of flour and time to get to the right consistency, so I had to slap a lid on the mixer bowl, write 375° 40 - 45 mins on a scrap of paper and run out the door.

When I got home for Dinner Lewis told me he had no problems with shaping and baking the bread. Although, when he got home it had popped the lid off the bowl. So Lewis shaped the dough, put them in pans and left the kitchen. He has been around when I have made bread so he knew that the loaves would need to rise a little before the oven needed to be preheated, or so he thought... Apparently he walked in the kitchen after 20 minutes and they were already completely risen. As he told me the story I quickly began to review my dough making that morning. I was specifically trying to recall if I added salt. Of all the ingredients in my bread, salt is the one I have often forgotten. It has never really been a problem before, as I have always caught it when the bread has begun rising at an alarming rate. Salt retards the yeast action, so if I forget it the dough rises really rapidly. One taste of the loaves and their flat taste proved it, I forgot the salt. Sigh.

So I figured we could still use the bread for cinnamon toast with a little salt added and toast with jam, but we need a replacement for sandwiches. So rather then make more bread I tried the yogurt rolls my friend found on Baking Bites and raved about. The rolls call for all white flour but I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for some of the white flour. I discovered recently that we no longer like all white baked goods, finding them insipid and flavorless. Recently I made a batch of Touch of Grace Biscuits that none of us liked. I sent them in to my husband's office where they were devoured with rave reviews, so it is not that I messed up the recipe.

The rolls are wonderful, soft and fluffy with a delicate wheat taste that is perfect every way I have tried them: with butter warm from the oven, with tahini sauce and a cold black bean burger, toasted with jam... I cannot wait to try them with hamburgers and I will use this dough next time I want to make hot dog buns.

Soft Yogurt Sandwich Rolls

adapted from baking Bites

1 1/2 - 2 cups whole what pastry flour

2 - 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

3 Tbsp honey

1 cup tepid water (105° - 115° F)

1 cup yogurt (I used Greek style yogurt, the original says lowfat or non fat is fine but I would stick with whole milk)

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

In bowl of stand mixer combine 1/2 cup flour, yeast, honey and tepid water. Stir well and let stand for 10 minutes until bubbles form. (If you are sure that your yeast is still fresh you can skip this step).

With flat beater blade stir in yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, salt and 2 cups of the remaining flour. Gradually mix in remaining flour until you have a soft dough that pulls from the sides of the bowl. (This can be done in a bowl with wooden spoon or silicone spatula until this point and then turn out onto a floured counter and knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes). Change to the dough hook and continue to knead until smooth and elastic. Cover bowl with lid and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375° F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate, pressing into a rectangle. Divide dough into 10 equal pieces with a board scraper or pizza cutter. (Or totally mess up on making equal pieces and pull out your scale to divide the vastly different piles into even ones). Shape each piece into a round ball by taking the dough and pinching together the sides, giving you a smooth top. Place them on the baking sheet.

Once all the rolls are shaped, press down firmly on each one to flatten. Cover with a clean damp dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.

bake for about 20 minutes, until rolls are a deep golden brown on the top and bottom. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 rolls