Smoked Lamb Meatballs with Smoked Ricotta Tzatziki
Smoked American lamb Meatballs perfumed in a fragrant Lebanese 7 Spice blend, are hearty enough for a meal or excellent finger food for tailgating or your next dinner party. Served with cold smoked Tzatziki ricotta, this dish gives many dipping options for noshing. Dipping the meatballs in the ricotta is a full-blown sensory experience combining flavors of the Mediterranean paired with cooling Tzaziki and the beauty of this recipe is that once the meatballs have been devoured, you can still make an entire meal out of warmed pita bread or toast points, veggies and the herbaceous smoked ricotta.
Cold smoking the ricotta is an extra step that is not necessary but adds layers of flavor to this smoke-infused recipe. You can use a “smoking gun” handheld smoker device, a smoker tube or even a cedar plank with a mason jar to trap smoke flavor that can be used to infuse the ricotta with smoke flavor. If you skip this step, the Tzaziki ricotta is great on its own, though using the smoking gun tool or pulling out cedar planks to create smoke flavor for a dish is always a fun party trick.
Servings: 1 lb, approximately 12-14 meatballs
Ingredients
- Smoked American Lamb Meatballs with Smoked Ricotta Tzatziki
- 1 lb ground American lamb
- 2 small eggs lightly beaten
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ tbsp Lebanese 7 Spice Blend also called “Baharat”
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
- 3 tbsp panko
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Smoked Tzatziki Ricotta
- 15 oz ricotta
- 1 large cucumber- ½ for grating use other half sliced for serving with the Tzatziki sauce
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp fresh ground pepper
- Juice and zest of ½ lemon
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- ⅓ cup chopped dill
- 3 tbsp olive oil- half mixed in reserve the other half for drizzling
Optional:
- Pita Bread or Sourdough points for dipping
- Vegetables for dipping into the ricotta Tzatziki- cucumbers carrots, multi-colored bell pepper strips
Instructions
Directions:
- Combine all the American lamb ingredients until uniformly combined. Roll them into small balls and place them on a wire tray or frog mat that will be placed on the grill/smoker for smoking.
- Cold Smoked Ricotta: This part adds smoke flavor to the ricotta, however, it can be skipped and this recipe is still delicious! If you want to be “Extra”, cold smoking is a great way to add smoke flavor to any dish. Add the ricotta to a large glass bowl covered with plastic wrap. Next, using a smoking gun device (made for cold smoking cocktails or food), add wood chips to create smoke and place the tube into the bowl and secure tightly closed under the saran wrap so that the smoke infuses the ricotta. Keep the plastic wrap closed and let the smoke infuse the ricotta for a few minutes.
- The next step is to put the meatballs on the smoker. Set your smoker to 250 and add wood chips to create smoke. Place your meatballs in your smoker on indirect heat and let them smoke until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees as the USDA recommends. Once you’ve hit 160, pull the meatballs off the smoker.
- While the meatballs are smoking, it’s time to assemble the tzatziki sauce. This next step requires draining the extra water out of the cucumber so the sauce does not get watery. Grate the cucumbers using a box grater and place the cucumbers in a cheesecloth to extract the water. Squeeze the extra water out a few times before adding the cucumber to the ricotta. Next, grate the lemon zest into the ricotta. Squeeze the juice of the ½ lemon into the ricotta. Add the chopped dill and garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil and mix until combined. Taste to see if you need more salt. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Right before serving, drizzle with remaining olive oil.
- Serve the meatballs with grilled bread or pita bread warmed on the grill, sliced cucumbers, and meatballs served with toothpicks for dipping into the smoked tzatziki ricotta. This dish is excellent as a finger food as an appetizer or complete meal, and the leftovers are even better the next day (though there will rarely be leftovers!).
Notes
This post is made in partnership with the American Lamb Board. Supporting American Lamb helps support our Nation’s Farmers and Ranchers so consider trying Lamb at your next meal!