Pistachio meatballs with tahini sauce

Meatballs!! I wonder how many variations of the meatball exist. While some meatballs are mostly made of meat and ingredients to cement the ball, others may include other ingredients. How one makes meatballs depends as much on one's cultural background as on individual taste. There are even meatless 'meatballs' to satisfy vegetarian palates.

Well, for the past week, my husband kept reminding me to make the pistachio meatballs with the tahini sauce. It’s something about the tahini sauce and the hearty meatballs that makes him really happy.

He has a strange affliction with this dish, well he loves tahini sauce, I love it too! And if he’s happy, then I’m happy. So I whipped up a batch of flavorful pistachio meatballs, sprinkled them with sumac and served them with a tahini sauce. The flavor of this sauce is rich, and its nuttiness enhances the meatballs so perfectly.

Most of you are probably familiar with tahini, a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. Tahini-based sauce is common in Middle Eastern cuisines, it's served as a side dish or as a garnish, usually including lemon juice, salt and garlic and thinned with water.

Ingredients (around 25 meatballs):
Meatballs: 1 white sandwich bread, crusts removed - 1 lb (500g) ground beef - 1 onion, grated - 1 tsp salt - 1 tsp cumin - 1 tsp allspice - ½ tsp paprika - ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper - ¾ cup minced parsley - ½ cup finely-chopped mint - ¼ cup unsalted pistachios -  2 tbsp olive oil - sumac for garnish

Tahini Sauce: ½ cup tahini paste, well stirred - ½ cup water- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice - 1 garlic, crushed into a paste

For the Meatballs: Dip the bread in cold water and squeeze dry against the bottom of a fine sieve.
In a large bowl, mix bread with beef, onion, salt, cumin, allspice, paprika and black pepper. Mix thoroughly, but avoid overhandling. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Mix in parsley, mint and pistachios with your hands and shape mixture into balls.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add half the meatballs and saute until browned and cooked through, about 7 minutes. Regulate heat so meatballs don't burn, and shake pan vigorously to turn them.

Transfer to paper towels. Wipe skillet and repeat with remaining oil and meatballs. Place in a serving plate, sprinkle them with sumac. Serve hot or warm, with tahini sauce.

For the tahini sauce: Combine tahini, water, lemon juice, and garlic, stirring well.

Boulettes de viande aux pistaches et à la sauce tahini
Ingrédients (environ 25 boulettes):
Boulettes: 50 g de mie de pain - 500 g de viande hachée - 1 oignon râpé - 1 càc de sel - 1 càc  de cumin - 1 càc de 7-épices - ½ càc de paprika - ½ càc de poivre noir moulu – 70 g de persil haché – 70 g de menthe finement haché - 1/4 tasse de pistaches non salées - 2 càs d'huile d'olive - sumac pour la garniture

Sauce tahini: 120 ml de tahini - 120 ml d'eau - 60 ml de jus de citron - 1 gousse d'ail, écrasée

Pour les boulettes: Trempez le pain dans l'eau froide et essorez-le bien.
Dans un grand bol mélangez le pain, la viande hachée, l'oignon, le sel, le cumin, le mélange 7-épices - le paprika et le poivre noir. Malaxez puis réfrigérez pendant 1 heure.

Ajoutez le persil, la menthe et les pistaches et façonnez avec vos mains des boulettes de viande.

Faites chauffer 1 càs d'huile à feu moyen dans une grande poêle. Ajoutez la moitié des boulettes de viande et faites-les revenir jusqu'à ce qu'elles soient dorées et cuites, environ 7 minutes, en les retournant régulièrement.
Attention le feu ne doit pas être trop fort.

Répétez avec l'huile restante et les boulettes de viande. Déposez-les dans un plat de service, saupoudrez-les de sumac. Servez chaud ou tiède, avec de la sauce tahini.

Pour la sauce tahini: Mélangez le tahini, l'eau, le jus de citron et l'ail, en remuant bien.