Spiced Meatballs with Tahini Sauce

Well, here we are a little over 2 months into lockdown. I've continued to NOT find myself with scads of free time in which to constantly be cooking - things have remained pretty busy keeping the remote wheels turning for the music store I work for. Though I gave up being general manager years ago and shifted to just handling email & website for the most part, now...that's all there is, so it's kinda like managing again. I'm grateful that it's making up for lost income from not playing gigs though, so I'm keeping at it...and though it exhausts me at times, it does give me a sense of purpose to help keep a beloved small business afloat when so many have had to shutter completely.

So I've been cooking fairly simply for the most part; by the time dinner rolls around I'm often bleary-eyed from too much screen time and mentally done. But, I'm occasionally whipping up more complex things. A couple of days ago, we did our first grocery store trip since lockdown started. We've had a lot of paranoia about it, but it was surprisingly fine (we did not opt to wipe everything down when we got home, but there was lots of handwashing through the unpacking process...I think it's fine). We went after 8pm and there weren't many people there. Some precautions at the store seemed a bit...lackluster? But they were quite well-stocked on almost everything we needed. We probably did not need to buy quite as much as we did, but I figured as long as we were there and they had stuff, get some more of those non-perishables and we'll be good for a few more weeks. We have no interest in going out in public more than is absolutely necessary. Sure it'd be nice to enjoy public life again, but it's not yet safe to do that, we'll keep on keepin' on at home.

A weekly Hungry Harvest delivery has been keeping us in fresh produce, and we usually add on bread and sometimes other things. I've contemplated joining our CSA again, but I think we'll stick with Hungry Harvest because there's a bit more variety, we can add on bread, etc - and it's delivered to our door (and we're a bit hesitant to do the up-front payment for months of CSA). There have been a couple of Amazon Fresh/Pantry orders, but I think we'll give that up now that the grocery doesn't seem quite as scary. And we've been getting some other grocery goods from Farmhouse Greens, a local fast-casual salad place that has opened up a pop-up pantry with easy online ordering & curbside pickup. Also my friend notified me that Liberty Delight - a local farm that sells sustainably/ethically raised meats at our farmer's market - was doing home deliveries. She and I went in on a meat order together to meet their minimum for delivery, so our freezer is now full of ground beef & turkey, 3 kinds of sausage, bacon and a pork loin. It's pricier than grocery meat but I feel better about the farming practices and supporting a local farmer. Aaaand I was kind of getting tired of beans.

Alright, so now we're finally getting around to these meatballs. Usually I feel like meatballs are more prep than I wanna deal with (I'll generally just make burrito bowl type meals, chili or pasta sauce with ground meat). But I gave these a whirl with our Liberty Delight ground turkey. I wanted to do some kind of middle eastern-y spiced meatball and as usual, looked at a bunch of recipes and then did my own thing. I'm not an experienced meatball maker but they seem pretty flexible; you can use any kind of ground meat (lamb would probably be awesome), add some vegetable bits, etc. I meant to add minced onion but forgot - just the green onion was fine. If you have parsley or other fresh herbs, definitely use them (I didn't have any). You can also cook the meatballs on the stovetop; I find it easier to bake them. Tahini is great for making a quick sauce with little effort. I'm almost at the end of my Trader Joe's jar so I'll have to look for that on my next trip.

I read an article today that said something like: right now, it feels like almost the only thing we have control over is what we cook and put in our mouths. Yeah, I feel that. Some folks may roll their eyes at other's food photos and documentation...I get that too, but I like seeing what people are cooking and eating out there. It gives me ideas for when I'm finally motivated to make something blog-worthy, and - I like looking at and reading about food. So thanks, if you're reading.

OK, good lord, here's the "recipe!" (because I didn't measure anything, of course!!). I served this with produce from Hungry Harvest: roasted potatoes (olive oil, lemon pepper) and sauteed broccolini with garlic and a spash of lemon juice.

Spiced Meatballs:

1 lb ground meat (I used turkey)
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/2 tsp salt
~1/4 tsp each turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika
1 chopped green onion (add some regular onion too, ifya want)
1 clove garlic
small piece fresh ginger

- Grate the ginger & garlic on a microplane into a medium-size bowl. Beat in the egg.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix gently with your hands or a spoon until incorporated.
- Form smallish (~1.5"?) balls and place on an oiled baking sheet. Roll around in the oil as you put them on the sheet.
- Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes.

Tahini Sauce:

3 heaping tablespoons tahini
juice of half a lemon (I used bottled)
a sprinkle of turmeric (optional but gives it a nice golden color)
garlic powder (or fresh minced/crushed garlic), salt & pepper
sriracha or other hot sauce

Mix it all together and then add enough water to make a drizzle-able sauce.