Dutch Oven Greek Meatballs

This recipe is included in my Dutch oven cookbook, "Around the World in a Dutch Oven".

I actually made these a few weeks ago.  Jodi had bought me some ground lamb, and I’d been eager to try it.  I actually had struggled with trying to figure out what to do with it.  I’d looked all over the intarwebb looking for ideas, and finally found something I could adapt.

I leaned some things doing it.  In the end, it tasted good, but had a little edge of a burned flavor.  So, next time, I’m going to make some adjustments to the process.

Dutch Oven Greek Meatballs

12” dutch oven
15-18 coals below

• 4 slices white bread, torn into pieces
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced and minced
• A bundle of fresh mint, chopped, without the stems
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground lamb
• 4 eggs

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dredging

• Olive oil for frying

After getting some coals started, I started preparing the ingredients.  I tore the bread apart and put that in a bowl with the milk to soak.  I chopped up the garlic and the onions.  Finally, I added everything in that first set into a big bowl and stirred it all up.  I made sure it was all blended by mushing it together with my fingers.  I formed the mis into meatballs, about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter.

Then, I got the dutch oven on the coals, with a little bit of oil on the bottom. I let that heat up, but not too much, as I discovered.  I dredged the meatballs in the flour and dropped them into the dutch oven to start cooking.

Here’s where I would start doing it a little bit differently.  I would keep the heat a little more moderate, so that the meatballs cooked a little more slowly.  I turned them with some cooking tongs, from time to time.  I actually had to cook them in a couple of batches, because there wasn’t room in one dutch oven for them.  I put a few coals under a second 12” dutch oven (maybe 6-8 coals) and used it, with the lid on, as a warmer for the ones that were done.

Somewhere during the cooking of the second half of these, I put some rice on in my 8” dutch oven.  I put about a cup of rice in with about 2 cups of turkey broth.  I put that over about 10 coals. When it started steaming out the from under the lid, I let it cook for another ten minutes, then pulled it off and let it sit, covered for ten more.

While all this cooking was happening, I had an intriguing thought, to make a pan sauce out of all that delicious, crusty fond that had been building up on the bottom of the dutch oven.  So, once all of the meatballs were warming in the other oven, I set to making it in the original frying oven.  First, I poured in about a half cup of water, and about a lemon’s worth of juice.  It immediately began sizzling.  I took a wooden spoon and started scraping up the bits off the bottom of the dutch oven.  The acid in the lemon juice helped that significantly.  It only took a minute or two before all that crusty stuff was swimming in a bubbling broth.

I put in a bit of flour, shaking it in a little at a time, while stirring and whisking, to thicken it up.  Soon it was ready.  I put the meatballs from the warming pot back into the sauce, stirred it up, and served it over the rice.

It was delicious, except, as I said, for the slightly burned flavor.  I’m not sure if that edge came from the fond in the sauce or from the meatballs themselves.  It could have been either one.  But in either case, I think cooking it a little bit lower in heat would have done the trick.


From my dutch oven table to yours, here's more of what to cook in a dutch oven!

Moroccan Lamb Tagine in the Dutch Oven

For the last few weeks, now, I've been eager to try something new, something exotic.  A lot of the dishes I've been cooking lately have been remakes of past dishes.  That's good, I get to learn how to do them again, and make changes that make them better.  But I need to reach out and stretch from time to time, too, or I get stale.

And I was feeling a little stale.

Jodi had bought some lamb chops, and she was hoping that I'd do something with them.  I dove in, and searched out a whole bunch of lamb ideas, from a whole bunch of cuisines and nationalities.  In the end, this one won out, from Morocco.

I've not done anything from the african continent yet, in all the years I've been writing about the dutch oven.  This is my first.  Of course, it's from the mediterranean north coast of Africa, and I'm well aware that central and southern cuisines are very different.  I'll explore those someday, too.

I also tried something new, in my cooking process.  Over the years, as I've been trying to learn how to cook, I've always kept a very loose and unorganized cooking space.  This, of course, flies in the face of the concept of "Mise en Place".  This is pronounced "Mees-ah-plahz", and it means, literally, "putting in place".  There are many who refer to it as "everything in place".  It's the act of gathering together all of your ingredients and utensils, and arranging them into your working space so that you have easy access to them.

I've never done this.  I've only read about it.

But, too many times, I've run into situations where I've been in the middle of cooking a dish, and an ingredient I assumed we had plenty of was gone.  Either it was misplaced, or it was used up, or never there to begin with.  In any case, I would usually be in a situation where the time for that ingredient came and went, and I was frantically searching for it, usually while other ingredients were burning.

As I looked over this extensive list of ingredients, especially the seasonings for the marinade, I realized that the time had come to embrace mise en place, and give it a try.  It really helped.  Believe me.  I have learned my lesson.

Moroccan Lamb Tangine

This recipe makes about six servings, at about 525 Calories each.   It was done in three steps: the Marinade, the Meat, the Stew.

The Marinade

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds lamb meat, cubed
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

As I mentioned, I began last night by gathering up all of the seasonings and the meat, so everything was there and accessible.  I cubed up the lamb (from chops) and put it all in a 1 gallon ziplock baggie with the olive oil.  I gave that a shake to coat the lamb.

Then, I just added in all of the seasonings.  This is a serious whopping lot of seasonings.  I followed the recipe, and it tasted great in the end, but I also wondered to myself if all of the individual flavors of all of these seasonings just ended up lost in the mix.  Maybe it's like a symphony orchestra.  Sometimes it's the overall sound that's inspiring, not the individual instruments themselves.

Anyway...

Once all of those were in, I shook up the bag for about a minute, tossing it and massaging it so that it all got well coated.  I set it in the fridge to coat and absorb overnight.

The Meat

12" Dutch Oven

20-22 coals below

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• The meat mix from the previous step
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 4-5 green onions, sliced into the green stems
• 5 carrots, sliced lengthwise into thin, short strips
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated or minced

Even though the bad craziness of all the spices was done the night before, I decided to give mise en place another go today.  I gathered up all of the ingredients before I did anything else.

I lit up the coals, then put on the dutch oven with a bit of olive oil.  I let that heat up a little.  When I could tell that the oil was heated and shimmery, I dropped in the meat, and it began to brown.  It looked Sooooo good.  The spices were browning and searing into the meat...  Mmmm...

After about 10 minutes, I added in the onions, the garlic, the ginger, and the carrots.  I've been discovering the flavors of fresh ginger lately.  It's cool.  I stirred that occasionally and cooked it until the onions became translucent.

The Stew

20-22 coals below, a little less as it went on, to simmer

• 1 lemon, zested
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste or sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey

• kosher salt to taste
  
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
• 1 tablespoon water (optional)

After the onions became cooked a bit, I added the first set of stew ingredients.  I used the turkey stock I had made the other night after the spicy turkey.  It was frozen, so I had to melt it.  That's probably not the best way to do it, just dropping a frozen brick into otherwise hot food.  It melted pretty quickly.  Next time, I'll melt it better, so it goes in better.

I covered it and let it come to a boil.  I let a lot of the coals die out.  I did replenish, but not as much as I might have for a roast, for example.  Once it was boiling, I wanted it to simmer.  I let it simmer for almost an hour. 

When it was close, I got out my 8" dutch oven, some more stock, and made some rice, with a little more lemon juice.

Also, as it was nearing the end of the cooking time, I also added the cornstarch (mixed with water so as not to clump) as a thickener.  I also salted it a little more to bring out the flavors.

My family loved this international incident.  My son helped himself to seconds without even asking.  It was truly a success!






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Heavenly Father... 

Dutch Oven Kofta bi Tahini

"The Cat's Away..." Part II

Another dish that I love, but is not one of my wife's favorites is Kofta with Tahini sauce.  There are a lot of strong flavors in it, and they all blend together very nicely.  At it's most basic, it's a ground meat and potato dish, but it gets its flavors from the middle eastern spices and the tahini paste with lemon juice sauce.

Before I get into the process, there are a few special ingredients you need to acquire, and you might have to get them from a specialty store, possibly even a middle eastern market.  If you can't find them, you can do some mixing (in some cases) and some substitutions.

One ingredient you really can't substitute is the Tahini Paste.  It's like all-natural peanut butter, but it's made from ground sesame seeds.  I can usually find it in health-food stores.  It has a strong, nutty and almost bitter edge, but when combined with the lemon juice it's just plain amazing.

Another is a middle-eastern blend of spices.  This you might have to get from a middle-eastern market.  Sometimes it's just called "Middle-Eastern Spice" and sometimes it's called "Baharat".  If you can't find it, you can make it by following the blend here at wikipedia.  There are lots of different blends of baharat.  A good basic blend will include:

• Cumin
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Tumeric
• Coriander

If all else fails, you can use Allspice.  It won't be the same, but it's still good.

A third issue is the meat.  Most of the time I've eaten this it's been made of ground beef.  This time, I tried it with lamb, and I think that made a big difference to the overall success of the dish this time.  Of course, lamb is pretty expensive.  In theory, you could use any ground meat, even turkey.  No self-respecting muslim would use pork, of course, but if you're a christian, or an atheist, go for it.

I first cooked this dish way back in the early days of Mark's Black Pot, and I've only done it once or twice since then.  It was taught to me by a Palestinian friend and his wife (who also provided me with the jar of home-mixed baharat).

So, let's get started, shall we?

Kofta bi Tahini in the Dutch Oven

12” Dutch Oven
10 briquettes below
16 briquettes above

• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt

• 2-3 medium potatoes, quartered and sliced, or sliced like big french fries

• 1 lb ground meat (as mentioned, I used lamb this time)
• 1 Tbsp baharat spices (or equivalent)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• If you squeeze your lemon juice fresh (for the next set of ingredients), zest one of those lemons and add it here)

• 1 cup tahini paste
• ~1/2 cup lemon juice
• ~1/2 cup water

It all started by lighting up some coals, heating up the oil in the dutch oven, and sauteing the onions and the garlic. Once those were browned and translucent, I added the potatoes.  I stirred them to coat them with the oil and salt, and put the lid on.  I didn't shift the coals to the top yet, though.

Then I made the meat mixture.  It was pretty simple, I just added all of the ingredients together and mixed them all up.  Traditionally, the meat is formed into elongated meatballs, almost finger-shaped.

Then, I mixed up the tahini sauce.  This was a little trickier.  The amounts are estimates.  I stirred in equal amounts of water and lemon juice, but only a bit at a time.  You want two things to happen:  One, it needs to come to a thick soup-like consistency, and Two, it needs to balance the taste between the lemon and the tahini.  Words can't describe that balance, you just need to taste it along the way and see when it all blends right.  I just kept adding juice and water until it all looked and tasted right.  A pinch of salt will also help bring out the flavors.

Then, I opened the dutch oven lid and arranged the meat sticks on top of the potatoes and onions.  I poured the tahini sauce over it, and then dashed in about a quarter cup more water. 

I adjusted the coals to the right amounts above and below for baking, and set it to cook.  It cooked for about 45 minutes or so.  After about a half hour, the meat was getting cooked through, so I stirred it up.  If you stir it up before that, it'll all break apart.  When the potatoes are done, it's finished!

I also pulled out my 8" dutch oven and cooked up some rice.  I also made some of that cucumber and yogurt salad that was in that first blog entry I did when I made this in my dutch ovens so many years ago.  This time, however, I didn't have any tomatoes.

It was so much better this time than I'd ever made it before.  I was in heaven.  Even Jodi said it wasn't too bad when she came home.





Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.