Receta Moroccan Meatballs with Preserved Lemon; the tiles
First, let me tell you that mon mari and I agree that these are the best meatballs we have ever eaten.
And we eat a lot of meatballs.....
We both love them, they're dead easy and inexpensive.
We could be considered meatball experts!
At the very least, aficionados.....
Now that I think of it.... the Slow-Roasted Lamb I made, based on a recipe from the same cook book, was the best lamb we ever ate.
I could be on to something.....
BTW - the cook book is 'the food of Morocco, a journey for food lovers' (see sidebar) and, no, I am not being paid, I bought the book myself and no one has asked me to promote it. (No one ever asks me to promote stuff. Well, they ask, then I tell them I live in France and that's the end of it..... I'd love to get a free cook book to review... hint, hint)
Before the meatballs, though, comes the tile.
If you recall, back in February we went shopping for tile for the second bathroom.
Tile, like most things, is fashion conscious.
When we tiled our bathroom back in the US tiles were small, 4 or 5 inch squares.
When we tiled our bathroom in Andorra they were huge, 15 by 24 inches or larger.
When we tiled the bathroom in the Vendée the were a bit smaller and when we did the first bathroom in this house, the small one on the ground floor, the tiles were smaller still, 8 by 10 inches.
Now they're getting larger, again.... 10 by 16 inches, and they lay on their sides, the long way instead.
Until now, however, one could find tiles in a wide variety of colors. For some bizarre reason know only to the fashionistas, the current color of bathroom tile must be black, brown or gray.... and with a matte, rather than a glossy finish so that all of the water spots, common in a bathroom, show up best. The entire rant on tile shopping is here.
Well - here they are:
The big one on the bottom (12 X 24) is the floor tile. Mon mari is not happy as it's too long for his tile cutter.... Had you been in the store with me when I was selecting the tile you would understand how completely unsympathetic I am. Deal with it!
The dark gray and light gray wall tiles actually have a bit of beige running through them which doesn't show up on the photos - thus the tiny decorator tiles.
They are actually very small (.5 X 1.5 inches) tiles on a mesh background. The listels or decorator tiles that were meant to go with the gray tiles were truly ugly (IMHO) and blah on top of it. I'll be able to cut each of these square sheets into 4 listels for the decorative border.
Aren't I the clever girl?
Mon mari's not overly thrilled about that idea either..... See above.
And, now the meatballs....
They really, really were fantastic!
Tagine of Meatballs with Preserved Lemon
Meatballs
- 16oz (500gr) ground beef
- 2 tbs minced shallot
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- 2 tbs dried parsley
- 2 tbs dried bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- Sauce
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups (12oz, 360gr) chicken stock
- 2 tsp oregano
- 2 tbs dried parsley
- 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 preserved lemon, rinsed, pulp removed and rind cut into strips
Meatballs: Combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs and mix very well, kneading until it gets almost paste-like. Form into 1 1/2" (4cm) balls. Set aside.
Sauce: In tagine or large skillet, sauté onion in olive oil until tender, 6 - 7 minutes. Add paprika, cumin and sauté 1 minute longer. Add stock, oregano and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, add meatballs, keeping them separate, cover and simmer 45 minutes.
Add parsley, lemon juice and preserved lemons, simmer 2 minutes longer to combine flavors.
Serve with a large spoon for drinking the sauce polenta, couscous or rice
Did I mention that these were good?