Lamb, Grated Beets and Millet Meatballs

If you only own a few cookbooks, which I do, Nigel Slater's Tender should be one of them. It's not a vegetarian cookbook, but it's organized by vegetable. So if you have a vegetable, you can just look in the table of contents for dozens of recipe ideas. It's awesome.

Also awesome is his recipe for beet and lamb meatballs. It's a fantastic way to lighten and sweeten the ground lamb while packing in the nutrition found in beets. I followed his recipe fairly closely but substituted millet for the cracked wheat and cilantro for parsley.

Mix together approximately 14 ounces of ground lamb and 10 ounces of grated beets. Add one grated onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves and 3 tablespoons of herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro or whatever sounds good to you). Add approximately half a cup of cracked wheat or millet. Mix it all together with salt and pepper. Form into around 16 small patties and chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly fry each meatball on each side until brown and then transfer to a baking sheet. Cook for 15-20 minutes in the oven. You'll have to try one to see if they are done as they stay a gorgeous color red even when cooked.