We always have our fill of traditional food over Christmas and so it's nice to treat our jaded palates to some different flavours in January.
These little meatballs - taken from Claudia Roden's fabulous book Arabesque - are quick, easy and utterly delicious, and, being full of Middle Eastern flavours, are the perfect supper after you've been spending all afternoon engrossed in our 'Book of the Month'. (Yes, I know I should have tried out one of the Moroccan recipes, but I liked the look of this one.)
Recipe taken from 'Arabesque' by Claudia Roden
Making the meatballs themselves was really easy (things like that always sound more difficult on paper). There was something wonderfully tactile and satisfying about rolling them gently in my fingers (would imagine small children would love to make them) and I felt like a Middle Eastern domestic goddess when they were cutely lined up on my board.
Ignore Claudia's suggestion of making a hole in each one and filling it with pinenuts. I'm sure that's the traditional way, but I just mixed in the pinenuts and they tasted absolutely fine, with a very satisfying crunch. The recipe made loads so I froze some very successfully.
I'm sure they would taste even better with a homemade tomato sauce as Claudia suggests, but I just threw over jar of good-quality bought tomato sauce and that worked really well.
I served mine with buttered couscous flavoured with lots of chopped fresh parsley and a big blob of Greek yogurt and an endive salad on the side.
Love your blog too! I am going to add your site to my favourite blogs. Can't wait to see what's to come.
Posted by: all the best | January 20, 2007 at 08:01 AM
I have heard that this book is amazing! It got voted one of the 10 best cookbooks of the year. Would love to know how good the Moroccan recipes are.
Posted by: Maryam in Marrakesh | January 23, 2007 at 10:52 PM