Lamb Meatballs with Yogurt & Mint
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 time
- 25 min
- Done ahead
- 56%
- 1 hr 30 min before 7:30
- Hands off at
- 7:00
- T-30
Allergens: Milk (yogurt) · Eggs (binder) · Wheat (breadcrumbs, pita)·Serves: 2, generously (12 meatballs)·Oven: 400°F
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.
Start at 5:30. Hands off from 7:00. Stove mode follows the clock while you cook.
The 7:30 Timeline
Read it bottom-up if you like; cook it top-down.
Done before she arrives
Aisle order
Shopping list
Produce
Garlic
you use 3 cloves
1 head
Fresh mint
1 clamshell
Meat & Seafood
85/15 ground beef
1 lb ground lamb. If there is none. Same recipe, same timer, same temperature. Do not buy the 93% lean; the fat is what keeps them juicy in a hot oven.
1 lb
Dairy & Cheese
Plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
7 oz; you use all of it
1 small tub
Egg
buy the half dozen
1
Bakery
Pita
the pocket kind, 6-count
1 bag
Pantry & Canned
Plain breadcrumbs
small canister; panko is fine
Ground cumin
small jar
Pantry (you probably have these)
Salt, pepper, olive oil
At the stove
Method
- 1
Smash 3 garlic cloves flat with the side of a knife, pull off the skins, and chop them small.
- 2
Pull about 30 mint leaves off their stems. Stack half of them and chop them roughly; keep the other half whole for the plate.
- 3
In 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.
- 4
In 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.
- 5
Mix with your hands for about 1 minute, squeezing everything together until no dry breadcrumb shows. Do not keep going; overmixed meatballs are bouncy.
- 6
Line the tray with foil and rub it with a little oil.
- 7
Divide 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.
- 8
Set the balls on the tray with at least an inch between them.
- 9
Cover the tray loosely with foil and refrigerate until 7:00.
- 10
Wrap the pitas together flat in a sheet of foil, sealed at the edges.
- 11
At 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.
- 12
At 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.
- 13
At the timer, pull both. Probe the biggest meatball in its center: 160°F. If under, 4 more minutes.
- 14
Rest 5 minutes. Plate on the yogurt with the whole mint leaves and the warm pita.
Is it done?
The check that needs no experience
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.
- They cracked or crumbled on the tray
- you rolled them loosely. Serve the crumbled lamb spooned over the yogurt with the pita for scooping; it is a real dish on real menus.
- The sauce is runny
- the yogurt was not Greek. Line a colander with a paper towel, tip the sauce in, and let it drip for 10 minutes; or serve it as a drizzle instead of a swoosh.
The reveal
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.
Take this to the supermarket.
The First Bulletproof Dinner as a PDF, with the timelines. Free.