Lamb hiding mozzarella and speared with cherry tomatoes
Meatballs can be dry, but by hiding a piece of mozzarella inside, and serving together with juicy cherry tomatoes and a tahini sauce (go here for the perfect, simple way to make this) you overcome this problem three-fold.
This goes well with a lemon orzo salad, or a warm pasta, lemon and fennel salad.
Recipe for lamb hiding mozzarella and speared with cherry tomatoes
For six
- About twelve bamboo skewers – soaked in water. You won’t use all of them
- 700g/1½ lbs minced lamb
- 120g/4 oz sun dried tomatoes in ideally olive oil
- 4 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with 1 tsp smoked salt
- 1 small bunch parsley
- 1 preserved lemon
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 125g mozzarella
- 400g/14 oz cherry tomatoes on the vine if possible
- 1 small bunch of mint
- Freshly ground black pepper
- tahini sauce
- Take the sundried tomatoes out of the jar – weigh, and chop roughly
- In a large mixing bowl mix together with the lamb, the garlic, the rind of the preserved lemon, two tablespoons of the oil the tomatoes were in, the parsley, the oregano, and some grinds of pepper.
- Cut the mozzarella into about 24 small bits.
- Divide the lamb mixture into about 24 balls.
- Heat a bit more of the oil from the tomato jar in a large frying pan. Put the cherry tomatoes in the pan and fry for about five minutes while you…..
- …..Take one ball, and flatten a little on a chopping board, then wrap around a piece of mozzarella. Do a batch of about twelve. Your tomatoes should be cooked by now, take them out and keep warm.
- Begin frying the balls – while your first batch is frying, get on with forming the second batch.
- Put the first batch on a plate on top of a paper towel and keep warm while you fry the second batch.
- Make six skewers, each with three meatballs and three cherry tomatoes. Then make up a few extra skewers with fewer balls and tomatoes for hungrier people.
- Either put onto a big serving platter for people to help themselves, or serve up on individual plates. Tear over the mint leaves. And serve with the tahini sauce.
