Moroccan Lamb Meatballs with Cauliflower Couscous
What I love most about this recipe is how amazing our kitchen smelled while the meatballs were cooking. Not only did the aromas fill the room with a welcome hunger for something more hearty, but it’s finally cool enough to turn on our oven! I actually adapted the meatballs from a recipe in my cookbook for lamb lettuce wraps. I used the same spice combination for the meatballs and damn, it worked beautifully! This recipe is a little more in depth than some of my others because it calls for a few different steps but all in all, it comes together with ease. I’ve learned over the years with my cooking that if I do dishes as I go the after dinner cleanup is a breeze. Besides, it’s easier to enjoy the meal in front of us when we know dishes wont be terrible. As always, a glass of wine in hand while cooking is always encouraged around here!
Both Taylor and I were really happy with how well this turned out. You can obviously serve the meatballs with traditional couscous but we had a beautiful head of cauliflower from our buddies at Saur Farming and I wanted to use it. And guess what? With just the press of a button on my food processor we had our own mock couscous. We jazzed things up with some toasted and chopped almonds, dried apricots and drizzled everything in a zesty yogurt sauce. It was simply wonderful. Pair this meal with a glass of white wine and your favorite dinner date and you’ve got yourself a great night in!
Cheers from Tumbleweed Farm
Moroccan Lamb Meatballs with Cauliflower Couscous & Herb Yogurt Sauce
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Serves: 4
Herb Yogurt Sauce- 1 cup plain full fat yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium size head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
- 1/4 cup toasted and chopped almonds
- 4-6 dried apricots, chopped
- salt and pepper
- minced parsley for serving
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- pinch of black pepper
Preparation
- Prepare the yogurt sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking until smooth. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare everything else. This will also allow for the flavors to come together a bit.
- Prepare the couscous by placing the florets in a food processor and pulse several times until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, similar to couscous. Place the mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Oil a baking sheet or cast iron pan and set it to the side.
- Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and mix well with your hands. Form the mixture into small meatballs, about 1 1/2 inches. Place on the prepared baking sheet or cast iron skillet and bake until fully cooked through and no longer pink, about 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your meatballs.
- It's optional to sauté the couscous in a little olive oil in a pan on the stove but we actually prefer it raw. Whichever you decide to do once you're ready to eat divide the couscous between plates and top with the meatballs, toasted almonds, chopped apricots and drizzle with the yogurt sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with remaining parsley.
Notes
*Use this recipe as a guide *Adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary
Enjoying your photography. (Your recipes are a given..) Hope it’s cooling down your way.
Don’t you cook the ‘couscous’?
nope! No need to. Feel free to give it a little saute’ but we prefer it raw. Tastes great!
Thanks for this. I sent to a friend yesterday and she made the whole deal, tonight I’m doing the lamb meatballs and yogurt sauce 😉 Much appreciated.
So happy you all loved this!
Made this for dinner last night, exactly as written. The only problem was that we loved it so much we ate it we ate it all and don’t have any leftovers!
love it!
We really enjoyed this recipe. My one lesson learned was that you shouldn’t fill the food processor very high with cauliflower otherwise the grind is uneven — best to do it in small batches. Our cauliflower was cold from the fridge so I sauteed it. I might try roasting the cauliflower couscous in the oven next time to see how that goes. My family loves roasted cauliflower.
This is sooo good. Perfectly spiced meatballs and perfectly done in 15 mins. I called ahead to Whole Foods to reserve the ground lamb. After running the cauliflower through the food processor we decided to toss it with olive oil and roast it.