Baked Greek Meatballs with Yogurt Dipping Sauce
Summertime is when I do the most cooking for one. In the height of barbecue season, when families gather around the grill and groups of friends throw back beers, I spend more Saturday nights alone, inventing small plates and wondering how I ended up with so many teacher friends and retired parents. Their vacations seem endless.
There are, though, wonderful attributes of a summer without your familiar group. Suddenly, spontaneous happy hours with acquaintances are possible. So are longer lunches with co-workers. And I find that in short time, I’m telling these people my secrets and dreams. But still. I anxiously await the return of my traveling friends and family—and last week, in anticipation of their return, I made Greek meatballs.
The day was hot, and my ceiling fans were doing nothing more than spinning hot air. The thought of turning on the oven made me faint, but I pushed the light headedness away. In the coming week my friends would return from Minnesota and Europe, and my family from Mexico, and thinking of them, I’d become obsessed with the idea of making the ultimate, shareable, summer food. I wanted to bring people together in the light, jovial way that friends and family would soon re-converge in my life, and I intended to start with baked Greek meatballs at my dinner party that night.
The bite-sized balls, small and edible with a toothpick, are easy food to congregate around. Once you grab a toothpick and start sticking, it’s hard to venture away. The sweet, warmly spiced meat—a mix of lamb, earthy spices, and fresh mint—dips perfectly into a lemon-accented yogurt. And together they pop easily—cool and refreshing, in the heavy heat of summer.
So for them I turned on the oven, and while it slowly heated my apartment, my ceiling fans begrudgingly accepting the extra weight, I minced yellow onions, mixed cinnamon, cumin, and coriander into fatty lamb, and grated lemon zest into thick, Greek yogurt. The meatballs that I eventually pulled out of the oven bubbled with juices and their visible flecks of mint and cilantro added a touch of brightness.
I served them to friends with a lemon-cumin, yogurt dipping sauce, and I smiled as the tangy accompaniment quickly became the gathering spot. Friends pulled their chairs closer so they could dip their meatballs more easily, and as they did, they fell into conversations about flavors, foods, and summertime. And I watched them imagining another night, very soon, that I might share a similar experience with other friends and family.
4 Comments to “Baked Greek Meatballs with Yogurt Dipping Sauce”
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Look at that depth of field!
Indeed, Cazes. Thanks for reading!
You bravely turn on your oven in the summer heat–and enjoy the results! I must see you soon! These meatballs would be a nice twist on my mom’s trad Italian ones…now that E is eating meatballs!
Rebecca, if you make these, let me know how it goes! Yes, let’s do get together sooner rather than later!