Saffron Meatballs
 
I immediately wanted to make saffron meatballs as soon as I saw them being made by a local on ‘A Cook’s Tour of Spain’ a couple of months ago. Never having really used saffron, apart from a bag of stale stalks brought back from Morocco many years ago, and seeing the rather gratuitous pleasure Ms Miers seemed to be in when eating the aforementioned balls, I really had to give the recipe a go. Rather infuriatingly, it wasn’t one of the recipes that Ms Miers actually used, so there was no mention of it at all on the website. However, armed with my birthday tin of fresh saffron (and smoked paprika), I forged ahead regardless. Saffron Meatballs (makes about 20 small ones): 250g lamb mince 3 fronds (?) saffron half a tsp of smoked paprika quarter of an onion, finely chopped 20g breadcrumbs 1 clove crushed garlic Place the mince in a mixing bowl and mash it up a bit with a fork to soften. Add the rest of ingredients and mix thoroughly together, which takes about 5-10 minutes. If you have the patience or something else to do, leave the mixture to absorb all of the flavours for at least 30 minutes, although overnight would be even better. Using a teaspoon, spoon out a mixture into your hand a roll into a small ball, about 2cm in diameter. Place on a floured plate and repeat until the mixture is used up, or you’re bored of making meatballs and have enough for your dinner, in which case bag up the remains and stick in the freezer. Heat a couple of tablespoons of cooking oil (I used groundnut) in a frying pan and shallow fry the meatballs until browned, which takes about 5-10 minutes. Serve with salad and aioli. I really liked the taste of these meatballs and thought the smoked paprika and saffron worked well together. The small size does make it a bit of a pain to make many of them, but they do cook quicker as a result, which means you get to eat them quicker, which is always good! I have to confess that I did actually use double the amounts in the recipe, but got really bored after I’d made enough for me, plus some for snacks later in the evening, so just froze the rest of the mixture. I’m quite looking forward to having them again, though!
Saffron Meatballs
Thursday, 15 May 2008