Description

Between the creamy homemade tzatziki, the juicy meatballs or the veggie sides, it’s hard to choose our favorite meal component! No matter what your favorite, this Mediterranean inspired meal is the perfect combination of fat, salt and acid.

Ingredients

Scale

**Important** Make the Tzatziki Sauce first. Refrigerate and allow the flavors to incorporate at least while you make the meatballs or up to 4 hours.

For the Tzatziki:

1/2 seedless/English cucumber- peeled, any seeds removed, finely shredded

1 cup SCD legal yogurt or Greek yogurt if not following SCD

1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic- smashed

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 Tbsp fresh mint- finely chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp dried dill or 1 Tbsp fresh dill

For the Meatballs:

1 lb ground lamb (pasture raised, grass-fed)

3 Tbsp finely chopped red onion

1 clove garlic

1 Tbsp mayonnaise- (Try this Homemade Mayonnaise)

1 tsp cumin

1 cup fresh mint or parsley leaves- loosely packed and chopped (I use a combo of both)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the Tzatziki:

Peel, de-seed and finely shred the cucumber. Sprinkle with salt and set aside.
With the back of your knife, smash the garlic clove into a paste.
Mix the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt and spices with the yogurt.
- Important! Make sure you are using a thick consistency Greek style yogurt. Regular yogurt will be too watery, especially after you add the lemon juice and olive oil. If using SCD legal yogurt, you may need to strain the yogurt first.
Squeeze as much water out of the shredded cucumber as you can and stir it into the yogurt mixture.
Refrigerate while you make the meatballs and longer if possible.

For the Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Finely chop the red onion and (if desired) saute until the onion begins to soften. (This step isn’t necessary, but I like the flavor of the sauted onion in meatballs.)
Finely chop the garlic clove and mint/parsley leaves.
Using your hands, gently mix all ingredients with the lamb.
Form into meatballs, but do not overwork the meat. We make the meatballs smaller which results in 20-24 meatballs.
Add any cut and salt/peppered veggies to your sheet pan if desired. This is a SUPER delicious way for an easy side dish.
Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes depending on the size of your meatballs. The lamb should reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees and veggies should be done to your liking.
Serve warm with tzatziki sauce and any other veggie sides. See post for suggestions.

Notes

The veggies on the sheet pan roast in the lamb juices and make a very delicious side dish!

Tomato, Cucumber and Onion salad is my FAVORITE accompaniment to this dish! In my opinion, it creates the perfect combination! You can find a quick recipe for these vinegary marinated veggies in the post.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes