Lamb Meatballs in a Red Pepper Tomato Sauce over Braised Greens and Goat Cheese Grits

Bae Rating: 3.75/4 This is tricky, this meal seems like you're putting in a lot of effort but in reality, you aren't. At the end of the day its just greens, grits and meatballs. The lamb is the only thing fancy about this dish. Make this for someone you care about but you aren't ready to commit yet. Y'all are vibing, and everything is cool, but there hasn't been a, "what are we?" convo yet. 

Vibes: A bottle of red wine and smooth soulful jams. We think that "Crush" by Yuna, explains every emotion. 

Ingredients

For the Red Pepper Tomato Sauce
2.5 cups of whole peeled San Marzano Tomatoes (canned)
1 red pepper, roasted
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup of yellow onion, chopped
1 shallot, chopped (roughly 1 tbs)
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tbs of honey
1 pinch of allspice

Lamb Meatballs
1 LB of ground lamb
1.5 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp of honey
1 tsp of ground ginger
2 tbs of shallots, minced
1 tbs of yellow onion, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbs of mint, finely chopped
2 tbs of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of unseasoned bread crumbs
1 egg yolk

Braised Collard Greens

Instructions

For the meatballs:

1. In a large heavy bottomed skillet set to medium heat, add 1 tbs of olive oil. Add the shallots, garlic and onions.
2. Sauté the shallots, garlic and onions until the the onion and shallot is translucent. Set aside to cool.
3. Combine all of the herbs and seasoning, and sprinkle evenly over the lamb
4. Drizzle the honey on top of the lamb, and add the egg yolk and bread crumbs
5. Carefully work the seasoning and bread crumbs into the meat, taking care NOT to over mix. Over mixing the meat will give you dusty, dense meatballs. Gross.
6. Carefully form 1.5 to 2 inch meatballs, and set aside
7. Pour the vegetable oil into a large, heavy bottomed pan and set the heat at medium-high. I used my cast iron skillet, as always!
8. Arrange the meatballs in the pan, and cook until they're browned on both sides. Set aside.

For the Sauce:

1. Roast 1 red pepper, remove the skin and seeds. Chop and set aside.
2. Drain the remaining oil from the pan used to cook the meatballs, and discard.
3. Add the onions, shallots and garlic and sauté until fragrant.
4. Add the chopped roasted red pepper, and stir to combine
5. Crush the whole peeled tomatoes by hand, directly into the pan and stir.
6. Add all of the seasoning, and the honey and stir.
7. Taste your sauce! It should be spicy, sweet and a little smoky. Let the sauce simmer on low for 20 minutes.
8. Taste your sauce and adjust your seasoning as you see fit. I rounded mine out with a pinch more salt!
9. Add the meatballs back to the sauce, and simmer on low for another 20 minutes.

NOTE: We plated the grits first and then the sauce, followed by the collards and the meatballs. For the Goat Cheese Grits see the Parmesan grits recipe here and sub the cheese. Check out the braised collard green recipe here!