Lamb Meatballs

• 1 lb fresh ground lamb, chilled
• 5 oz (1/2 pkg) mushrooms, such as Baby Bella
• ½ small onion or equivalent (leeks, scallions, garlic scapes—anything in the allium family!)
• Other fresh herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano…dried sometimes sneak in, in a pinch, our last version shared, I used fresh dill from the garden)
• 4 ounces crumbled feta
• ¼ panko bread crumbs
• 1/8 cup milk (nut milk works just fine!)
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper (sometimes I add a shake of red pepper flakes)
• I bunch fresh Bright Lights or regular Swiss chard, de-ribbed
• 1 cup tomato sauce – great use for leftover sauce! If I don’t have any, I use have used canned chopped tomatoes and their liquid or any regular sauce. Doesn’t seem to matter if it’s seasoned or not.

PROCESS

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat deep pan liberally with oil (I use canola or olive oil, sometimes a mix) and place in oven.

In food processor, mince onions, herbs, and spices. Add breadcrumbs, milk, and cheese.  blend well. In a large bowl, combine ground lamb and mixture thoroughly. Using ice scream scoop, form meatballs. Add meatballs to heated pan, and cook for 15* minutes. Turn once midway, drain liquid, and reserve. When browned on the outside and pink on the inside, remove from oven. Drain and reserve remaining liquid.

While meatballs are cooking, clean and de-rib the chard, keeping the leaves as whole as possible. Reserve ribs for other use (great sautéed with onions and used in a quiche).

Spread tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9×12 baking dish and line with any chard scraps. Once meatballs are cool enough to handle, use Swiss chard leaves to wrap each one. Bigger leaves can be split in half, smaller leaves can wrap a single meatball. Aim to have these bundles fit snugly in your pan. I usually end up with three across, six down in my pan with this recipe, leading sometimes to a few naked meatballs for the cook (!) or I scooch a few extra into the pan.

If you have any extra greens at this point you could put them on top of the meatballs. Pour reserved cooking liquid evenly on top of the meatballs and greens. Cover with tinfoil.

What’s lovely is you can make the dish to this point and place in the fridge, for up to half a day.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 25-30 minutes, until greens are dark and liquid is mostly absorbed.

*The goal is to try create a bit of browning on the outside of each meatball and leave them medium-rare on the inside, since they will cook further; this is a challenge due to the high water content of the meatballs, and why I’ve found draining midway promotes more browning. My Sicilian friend Rosa Rizza takes one more step with her meatballs generally which is, she runs them through a flour dusting before putting them into a heated pan. When I have time, I do this (I didn’t the other night!). I cover a big plate with flour and roll the meatballs gently through before plopping them in the pan.

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