7:30 Sharp · Dinner card

Lamb Meatballs with Yogurt & Mint

7:30

Saying "I made lamb" sounds like you trained somewhere. Ground lamb comes in a tray next to the ground beef, costs about the same as a takeout order, and turns into meatballs the same way anything does: you mix it in a bowl and roll it into balls with your hands. Then a hot oven does the part that looks like cooking. On a plate with a swoosh of cool yogurt, torn mint, and warm pita, it looks like a restaurant that has a wood-fired oven and a wait.

Cost for two

$30

Active

25 min

Hands off at

7:00

Allergens

Milk (yogurt), Eggs (binder), Wheat (breadcrumbs, pita)

Shopping list · aisle order

Produce

1 head Garlic
1 clamshell Fresh mint

Meat & Seafood

1 lb 85/15 ground beef

Dairy & Cheese

1 small tub Plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 Egg

Bakery

1 bag Pita

Pantry & Canned

Plain breadcrumbs
Ground cumin

Pantry (you probably have these)

Salt, pepper, olive oil

Gear

One sheet tray, foil, one mixing bowl, a small bowl, a probe thermometer, a phone timer. The pita warms in a foil packet next to the tray.

The 7:30 Timeline

5:30	T-120	Unpack. Read this page once. Lamb into the fridge.
5:45	T-105	Garlic: smash 3 cloves flat with the side of the knife, peel, chop small. Mint: pull about 30 leaves off the stems, stack, rough-chop half of them.
5:55	T-95	Sauce: in the small bowl stir the whole tub of yogurt, one-third of the chopped garlic, half the chopped mint, 1 tablespoon oil, ½ teaspoon salt. Cover, fridge.
6:00	T-90	Mixing bowl: lamb, ½ cup breadcrumbs, the egg, the rest of the garlic, the rest of the chopped mint, 1½ teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, a lot of pepper.
6:03	T-87	Mix with your hands for 1 minute until you cannot see streaks of breadcrumb. Stop there.
6:05	T-85	Line the tray with foil, rub it with oil. Roll the mix into 12 balls the size of a golf ball, pressing each one firmly. Space them out on the tray.
6:15	T-75	Cover the tray loosely with foil. Fridge. Wrap the pitas in a sheet of foil as a flat packet.
6:20	T-70	All the cooking work is done. Wash the bowl and your hands (raw meat: soap, 20 seconds).
6:45	T-45	Dishes done, counters wiped. Starter and spritz made.
7:00	T-30	Hands off from here. Oven to 400°F, rack in the middle. Tray out of the fridge, uncovered, on the counter.
7:10	T-20	Shower.
7:20	T-10	Music on, lights down, table set. Whole mint leaves on a saucer by the plates.
7:25	T-5	Apron off, apartment check, spritz pitcher and glasses out.
7:30	T-0	She arrives. She arrives. Nothing on the stove needs you. Pour the spritz. It covers the next twenty minutes with the starter.
7:45	T+15	Starter out. Then: tray in, middle rack; pita packet on the rack beside it. Timer: 20 min.
8:05	T+35	Timer goes. Pull the tray and the packet. Probe the biggest meatball: 160°F. Under? 4 more minutes. Rest 5 minutes.
8:10	T+40	Plate (see Plating). Serve.

Lamb Meatballs with Yogurt & Mint · Method

1Smash 3 garlic cloves flat with the side of a knife, pull off the skins, and chop them small.
2Pull about 30 mint leaves off their stems. Stack half of them and chop them roughly; keep the other half whole for the plate.
3In the small bowl, stir together the whole tub of yogurt, about a third of the chopped garlic, half of the chopped mint, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover and refrigerate.
4In the mixing bowl, put the lamb, ½ cup breadcrumbs, the egg, the remaining garlic, the remaining chopped mint, 1½ teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and about 15 grinds of pepper.
5Mix with your hands for about 1 minute, squeezing everything together until no dry breadcrumb shows. Do not keep going; overmixed meatballs are bouncy.
6Line the tray with foil and rub it with a little oil.
7Divide the mix in half, then each half into 6. Roll each piece between your palms into a firm ball about the size of a golf ball. Press firmly so it holds together; do not be gentle.
8Set the balls on the tray with at least an inch between them.
9Cover the tray loosely with foil and refrigerate until 7:00.
10Wrap the pitas together flat in a sheet of foil, sealed at the edges.
11At 7:00, turn the oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle. Take the tray out of the fridge and remove the foil cover.
12At 7:45, slide the tray onto the middle rack and set the pita packet on the rack next to it. Set a 20-minute timer.
13At the timer, pull both. Probe the biggest meatball in its center: 160°F. If under, 4 more minutes.
14Rest 5 minutes. Plate on the yogurt with the whole mint leaves and the warm pita.

Is it done? No experience needed

Thermometer: 160°F in the center of the largest meatball. No thermometer: cut the largest one in half. Brown-grey all the way through, no pink, no red juice; the juice that runs out is clear or lightly brown. The outside has a dark brown crust on the bottom where it touched the foil.

The #1 way to screw it up

The outsides are brown and the biggest ones are still pink in the middle at 8:05, because they were rolled larger than a golf ball or the oven ran cool.

Recovery

Cut every meatball in half. Lay the halves cut-side-down on the tray and give them 4 more minutes at 400°F. The cut faces brown, they finish in a fraction of the time, and on the plate a pile of halved meatballs over yogurt looks like a choice you made. Probe one: 160°F, then serve.

Plating

Spoon half the yogurt sauce onto the middle of a wide plate and drag the back of the spoon through it in one curve so it spreads into a wide swoosh. Pile 6 meatballs on top in a loose heap, not a row, and tear the whole mint leaves over them. Drizzle a thin thread of olive oil over the yogurt, tuck two pita halves upright at the side, and serve.

Vegetarian swap

Chickpea meatballs: one 15-oz can of chickpeas drained and mashed with a fork until mostly smooth, mixed with the same breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, cumin, mint, and salt, rolled small (walnut-sized, 12–14 of them) and pressed hard. Same oiled tray, same 400°F, timer 20 minutes. They are more fragile; do not move them until they have rested. Same yogurt, same mint, same pita.

What to pour

Wine. a Spanish Tempranillo or a soft Rioja — Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva, about $13; or Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel, about $10, if the store is out.

Beer. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

No alcohol. iced black tea with lemon and a mint sprig in the glass.

The practice run. Cook this once on a weeknight for yourself before the real night. Twenty dollars of groceries buys you the one thing the card can't: having done it before. 730sharp.com