Moroccan Kefta Meatballs with Honey and Mint

This past Friday, we got home from a 6-day vacation to Nassau, Bahamas. It was stunning. We stayed at a very small, boutique hotel that was on the west side of the island away from almost everything. One thing I missed while on vacation was cooking my own dinners. Sure, the Caribbean food was tasty but I actually got sick of eating out. 

When I got home, all I wanted to do was cook. The first day home, I made a wonderful egg souffle (I'll share recipes soon!) and then today was a full cooking day. Cookies and a fresh batch of iced-tea and pizza. For dinner, I took out an old cook book I haven't used in a while and yelled to my husband, "You want Moroccan tonight?" To which he replied, "Yea, okay...is that gonna take a while?"

And the answer is no. This is a one-pan dish. If you chop things ahead of time and even shape the meatballs before work, this could be really, really fast. I modified a recipe from Ghillie Basan's Moroccan Food & Cooking Cookbook. I highly recommend you purchase this book if you want more recipes. 

This turned out to be one of my favorite meatball dinners I think I've ever made. A touch of sweetness from the honey and a lot of flavor from the herbs. Enjoy!

Time 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Ib lean ground beef
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp finely chopped mint
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tab butter
16 oz can of diced tomatoes
3 tsp honey
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/3 cup of flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
salt and pepper

In a bowl, knead the beef with the onion, breadcrumbs, egg, cinnamon, mint, and salt and pepper. Take a small amount of mixture and shape it into a small ball about the size of a walnut. Repeat and form the rest of the mixture into meatballs. Makes about 16 meatballs. 

Heat the olive oil and butter on low in a large frying pan. Add meatballs and raise heat to medium-low. Fry the meatballs until nicely browned, turning them occasionally. I found that little bits of meat and onion stuck to the pan. This is okay and will add flavor to the sauce. 

Add tomatoes, honey, garam masala, cayenne pepper, garlic and most of the parsley. Bring sauce to a simmer, cook for about 6-8 minutes until sauce has reduced a bit and roll meatballs in sauce. Also, use wooden spoon to loosen bits of onion or beef that stuck to pan earlier. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Serve with side of cous cous and naan.