Jerusalem Kofta

Kofta is Palestinian for meatball.
Contributed by Dave Herz of Herz Farms, Paonia, Colorado

For the meatballs:
1 pound Princess Ground Beef (or use 1/3 ground lamb and 2/3 ground beef)
1 medium onion chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons each of parsley, mint, dill and cilantro
2 large garlic cloves crushed
4 teaspoons Baharat spice mix (Baharat means spices in Arabic and is equivalent to curry in Indian cooking)
4 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons capers chopped
1 egg beaten

To make Baharat:
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 small cinnamon stick coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon whole cloves
½ teaspoon all spice
2 teaspoons cumin seed
1 teaspoon cardamom pods
½ whole nutmeg grated

Put spices into a mortar and grind to a fine powder. If you have some of the spices already in powdered form, use them. If you don’t have all the spices listed, just use what you do have.

Place all the above ingredients in a large bowl. Add ¾ teaspoon salt and plenty of pepper and mix well by hand. Form the mixture into small balls or even little oblong shapes. (Meatballs are a variety of shapes the world over.)

To cook the meatballs:
2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 whole thyme sprigs
6 cloves garlic sliced
8 green onions cut into ¾ inch slices
1 ½ teaspoons each of parsley, mint, dill and cilantro
Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the thyme, garlic and green onion and sauté for about three minutes or until slightly golden. Add the stock, lemon juice and a little salt and pepper and the meatballs. Simmer for about ½ hour. Allow the meatballs to sit in the broth for a few minutes after cooking so they can absorb much of the juice.

Serve with couscous and fava beans. You can even mix the fava beans in with the broth and meatballs.