I’ve been thinking about lamb and mint since our Alaskan vacation in June. Day 2 of “open fire culinary adventures with family” was a lamb roast with mint basting sauce. We hadn’t roasted a whole lamb before and the first challenge was thawing a completely frozen lamb for the next day! Suffice it to say that placing the lamb in a bathtub full of ice overnight did the trick. I will spare you the picture. Once the lamb was was secured onto the spit, the second challenge was securing the spit close enough to the heat. I was told the lamb only fell into the fire once.
Looking at my garden full of mint I wanted to accomplish two things - use up a lot of mint, and pair it with lamb. After doing some research on basting sauce vs. pesto, and learning the cost of lamb chops, I decided on lamb meatballs with mint pesto. The beauty of pesto is it’s freezable (because you always have extra), and it’s versatile (because you always have extra).
Mint pesto is made the same way as basil pesto. Start with layering fresh clean mint, pine nuts, garlic, shredded parmesan cheese, and lemon zest, in your food processor. Pulse a few times and then puree while drizzling in olive oil. Continue to process until the oil is incorporated and the pesto has a course texture.
I made two batches of the meatballs, one using equal parts ground lamb and ground pork, and the second using equal parts ground lamb and ground beef. I didn’t want the lamb flavor to be overwhelming, and while the ground lamb isn’t as costly as lamb chops, it is still expensive. In the end, I couldn’t taste a difference between pork and beef, and was happy I hadn’t used just ground lamb. The lamb flavor came through nicely and was not overwhelming.
The meatballs were made with the traditional bread crumbs and eggs, but in place of milk and other seasonings I added the pesto. I achieved the lamb and mint flavor I was hoping for! Now, what to do with lamb meatballs, other than eat them straight from the oven?
Eat them on a Greek salad!
We tossed lettuce greens with a Greek vinaigrette and then layered on chopped tomato, cucumber, artichokes, mixed olives, sliced warm meatballs and feta cheese. Some pita chips with hummus and yogurt mint sauce made it a perfect meal!
We also ate the meatballs in flatbread with the yogurt sauce and apple mint slaw. You can easily up your slaw by adding apples and mint.
Start with a basic slaw mix, add granny smith apple cut into matchsticks, or a small dice, and fresh chopped mint. Then toss it all with poppy seed dressing. We like the tartness of the granny smith and it resists browning more than other apples. If you’re really ambitious make your own own slaw with chopped cabbage (I like Napa cabbage) and shredded carrot.
Mint Pesto
6 cups Fresh mint
1/2 cup Toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup Shredded parmesan cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1 Medium clove garlic
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Fresh ground pepper
1 cup Olive oil
1. Pack the mint into a food processor or blender.
2. Add the pine nuts, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients.
4. Drizzle in the olive oil and puree until the oil is incorporated and the pesto has a course texture.
5. The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.
6. If not using right away freeze the pesto in small portions.
Lamb Meatballs & Yogurt Mint Sauce
12 oz Ground lamb
12 oz Ground beef or pork
1 cup Cubed stale bread or crumbs
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Minced fresh onion
3 T Mint pesto
1/2 tsp Fresh ground pepper
Yogurt Sauce:
1 cup Plain Greek yogurt
1 T Honey
1 T Fresh chopped mint
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1. Mix all meatball ingredients together.
2. Add more breadcrumbs a tablespoon at a time if mixture is too wet.
3. Cover and chill overnight to allow flavors to blend.
4. Whisk together sauce ingredients and chill overnight.
5. Scoop meat into 1-ounce balls and place on sprayed baking rack.
6. Place foil lined sheet pan under rack and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
The lamb meatballs and lamb roast were both a delicious success. Patrick was a trooper and we still had one more day of crazy open fire culinary adventures with family!