There were some beautiful baby beet greens in my CSA box this week. I normally don’t make greens on a regular basis but wanted to do something with these. I had some ground lamb in my refrigerator and a lemon leftover from making lemonade. I figure I would put it all together and see how it turn out. Noting short of fabulous.
I paired the meatballs with some herbed rice using the oregano that was in my CSA box as well.
This dish was easy to make, easy to clean up and most of all fantastic. Perfect weekday meal.
Lemony Lamb Meatballs
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1 bunch baby beet greens, chopped
- 3 pieces of bread, toasted
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated
- 3 green onions, finely chopped
- S & P to taste
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- rind of 1 lemon, grated
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Lemon Chive Butter Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 handful of chives, chopped
- 1/2 C heavy cream
- S & P to taste
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
Herbed Rice
- 1 C long grain brown rice
- 2 C water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove of garlic, grated or finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
For the meatballs:
In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients but the oil. Mix well with hands until all ingredients are mixed in well.
Roll into 1-2 inch balls.
Heat oil in frying pan and cook meatballs until brown on all sides. Don’t worry about the inside, they will cook in the sauce.
Take meatballs out of pan and let drain on some paper towel.
For the sauce:
De-glaze the pan with the lemon juice making sure you get all the good bits from the bottom of the pan. Add in the butter until melted. Add in the garlic, chives and heavy cream. Stir until well blended and heated through.
Add back the meatballs. Cover and cook 15-20 minutes.
Herbed Rice
In a sauce pan melt the butter then add the rice. Let the rice sauté until lightly browned.
Add the water, garlic and oregano. Bring water to a boil then turn the heat down and let the rice simmer for 20-30 minutes or until rice is tender and there is no longer water in the pot.
Inside:
