Gyro is probably my favorite preparation method of ground meat, so when I saw this recipe, I got very excited. This recipe, 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers is basically the same recipe as gyro, just served differently. However, I wish I had just bought a container of tzatziki at the store instead of making the yogurt sauce.
The rabbit handle piece on the end of the skewer in the example photo is simply incredible. I’ve never seen a set of skewers quite like that. It looks like the other skewers have other animal handles, I think I see a cat and a chicken on the other skewers that are slightly obscured by the meatballs. The serving dish is very neat, I’d like to add one to my collection.
The TIPS section provides my preferred method for cooking these meatballs. I can’t easily set up a barbecue at my apartment, so the apartment stove is my main cooking surface. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done.
Here’s the ingredients for the meatballs and yogurt sauce. I started by making the sauce and stashing the bowl in the fridge to keep it cool.
I stirred mint and lemon juice into the yogurt to create the dipping sauce for the meatballs. It was missing the cucumber that would make this a traditional tzatziki and that is one of my favorite parts of that sauce. Next time I make this, I would add the cucumber.
Lemon zest smells amazing! MMM! Get ready to add a bunch of ingredients into a bowl.
Ground beef, ground lamb, lemon zest, cornstarch, egg, allspice, and cinnamon. I thought the cinnamon was an odd choice, probably meant to be a substitute for marjoram or some other spice that wasn’t traditionally available in most supermarkets at the time.
Next, I added the chopped onions, chopped almonds and water into the mixture. I should have chopped both of these much, much smaller.
These meatballs start out pink, but will come out a delicious brown with a crunchy crust. The crust equals flavor!
They start out grey/brown, but keep cooking and good things will happen.
The gray gets brown all over, the golden brown delicious parts are cooked in the rendered fat of the ground lamb.
I got really artistic with this final product photo, trying to make these meatballs look as appetizing as they tasted to me. Upon reflection, I really enjoy the colors and plating of the carefully placed lettuce and yogurt sauce. Only 2 meatballs on a plate? Hardly. I ate at least 6 of these meatballs in one serving.
GRADE: A (Would have been A+ with better tzatziki)
