Rosemary Lamb Meatballs & Mint Sauce

Covid increases the awareness of remote working luckily. As a graphic designer, I was spending so much time on the computer; this was causing not having enough time for shopping or cooking. Eventually, I started to gain weight and eat junk food a lot. To stop this, I searched for an online food ordering service and decided to go with Gousto. I loved their branding and brand messaging, as well as their recipes. Since I’m Turkish and enjoy the Mediterranean diet, their recipes were the closest one to my taste. To keep everything in my archive, I’m writing their recipes in here too for future reference.

Recipe for 2

INGREDIENTS

• 3 garlic clove
• 5g rosemary
• 3 white potato
• Olive oil
• 250g lamb mince
• 30g panko breadcrumbs
• 11g beef stock mix
• 2 carrot
• 25g honey
• Knob of butter 
• 10g mint
• ½ tsp sugar
• 15ml white wine vinegar 
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C / 200°C (fan) / 425°F / Gas 7 Peel and finely chop (or grate) the garlic. Strip the rosemary leaves from the stalks and chop them finely, discard the stalks
2. Slice the potatoes (skins on) into discs (approx. 1cm thick), and add them to a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and half of the chopped rosemary and give everything a good mix up. Put the tray in the oven for 20-25 min or until the potatoes are starting to brown
3. While the potatoes are cooking, combine the lamb mince, chopped garlic, panko breadcrumbs and remaining chopped rosemary in a bowl. Sprinkle in the beef stock mix and season with plenty of pepper.
4. Mix the lamb mixture thoroughly until fully combined, then shape into 6 meatballs – these are your rosemary lamb meatballs. Refrigerate the meatballs until later. Chilling the meatballs helps them keep their shape when cooking.
5. Top, tail, peel and chop the carrots into batons. Add the carrots to a small pot with 50ml cold water, half of the honey, a pinch of salt and a large knob of butter. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered for 10 min or until the carrots are tender
6. Meanwhile, heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick with a matching lid), with 1 tsp vegetable oil over a high heat. Once hot, add the rosemary lamb meatballs and cook for 4 min, moving them about in the pan so they brown evenly. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, covered for 5-8 min until cooked through.
7. Whilst the meatballs are cooking, strip the mint leaves from the stalks and chop them finely, discard the stalks. Add them to a pestle & mortar with a pinch of salt and bash the leaves to a rough paste. Add 1/2 tsp sugar, the remaining honey, white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil and mix to combine well – this is your mint sauce
8. Serve the rosemary lamb meatballs with the mint sauce, potato discs and honey carrots to the side

Enjoy!