Kofta with Tahini Sauce, January 21, 2015

I seem to be on a meatball kick, with the "nursery food" meatballs in tomato sauce I made last week---or was it the week before?---and the kofta, a sort of Middle Eastern meatball, I made last night. My secret pal, knowing how much I love to cook, sent me a truly marvelous Christmas gift, Jerusalem: a Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. It's absolutely beautiful, with glorious pictures and a really nice layout. I've been wanting to pick up one of Ottolenghi's cookbooks for awhile now, so it was fun finally to dip into this one. I didn't follow the kofta recipe strictly, but it turned out to be delicious, anyway. I am not so much for very hot food and neither is Jeannene, so I subbed a judicious amount of crushed red pepper flakes for his fresh red chile. If you like it hotter, go for it! With the kofta, I served pilaf with labneh and a salad of cucumber, tomato, red pepper, and red onion, dressed with olive oil & lemon juice. It was a great dinner!

Kofta B'siniyah

Kofta-

8 oz. ground lamb

8 oz. ground beef (I used 94% lean)

1/2 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 tbsp. toasted pine nuts

1/4 c. minced parsley

A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. allspice

A good grating of fresh nutmeg

A good grinding of pepper

A good pinch of salt

Sauce-

1/3 c. tahini

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 c. water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. oil

Salt

Garnish:

Toasted pine nuts

Paprika

Mix kofta ingredients gently, but thoroughly, with your hands. Form into 9  3" long, oval-shaped cylinders. Chill until ready to cook. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk sauce ingredients together. Ottolenghi directs that the sauce should be, "...a little runnier than honey." If you need to add a smidge of water to make it that consistency, that's fine. Heat oil in skillet on high. Add the kofta and sear it so that it's golden brown on all sides. Place on baking sheet and cook for 2-4 minutes. Pour the tahini sauce around the base of the kofta---drizzle some over, too, if you like---and put in the oven for another minute or two. Serve with sauce, garnished with pine nuts and paprika. Serves 3.