I know y'all are actually shocked that I am writing about food again, well at least for this moment.

First of all, I want to give a shout out to Smitten Kitchen because she is truly one of my favorite cookbook authors and food bloggers. If you haven't discovered her, well you need to. She is also the creator of this recipe (see below).

Kefta which is also known as kofta, and there are actually additional variations on the spelling, can best be described by me as Middle Eastern meatballs. They are traditionally made with lamb, but they can be made with beef, turkey, mutton, pretty much any ground meat. They can be grilled, fried, baked, steamed or poached, but since I am obsessed with my bbq I found a recipe where I could grill them.

A tad bit of history, they were first identified in Arab cookbooks and the word is first documented in 1665 and first used in English in 1832, but I am guessing their history pre-dates those written shout outs. 

Kefta first came into my consciousness when I was living in Michigan. The Dearborn area has a large Middle Eastern population and some of the best food I have ever eaten. Since moving back to the West Coast, I have not found Middle Eastern food that compares and my tastebuds are having a bit of a withdrawal from the food I loved....and so I decided to give it a try myself. 

Also, if you are ever in Dearborn, MI the Arab American National Museum has a really great food tour. I had a blast and tasted food I have never heard of. I truly recommend this food experience!! 

Side Note: I also want to give some gratitude to my neighborhood butcher at Murphy's Market here in Cutten for grinding lamb for me at 0700 this morning so I could tackle this recipe for y'all.

Kefta and Zucchini Kebabs (my comments on the recipe are in red)

SERVINGS: 6 TIME: 1 HOUR SOURCE: GOURMET, 1980

SAUCE AND ASSEMBLY

1 cup plain yogurt (preferably full-fat)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (for some reason I am not a big mint fan so I used cilantro and it was yum)

1 medium clove garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

12 (10-inch) wooden skewers, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes

ZUCCHINI

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil (we used about half of this) (I also used half and it worked great)

2 medium zucchini (1 1/4 lb total), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices (don’t skim on their thickness, or you will have difficulty threading them)

KEFTA (MEATBALLS)

2 slices firm white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces

1 small onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves

1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1 pound ground lamb or ground turkey, preferably dark meat

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Make sauce: Stir together yogurt, mint, garlic, and salt in a small bowl and chill until you’re ready to serve the skewers.

Prepare zucchini: Whisk together lemon juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and oil in a large bowl and stir in zucchini slices. Marinate at room temperature while making meatballs.

Make meatballs: Cover bread with water in a bowl and soak 10 minutes. This was the strangest part of the recipe, in my opinion, and made me feel like a kid, soaking my bread at the dinner table....making a giant mess. I loved every second of it - both back in the day and now. However, I do have to say I don't know the purpose of this technique. I have obviously used breadcrumbs in meatballs before, even fresh ones, but not soaked ones. The only thing I could think of was to help add texture without drying them out. Thoughts?

Pulse onion and herbs in a food processor until finely chopped. Add pine nuts, and finely chop as well. Squeeze handfuls of bread to remove as much excess water as possible and add it to the food processor. Pulse until it is well chopped. Add this mixture to the lamb or turkey in a large bowl, along with salt and spices. 

Mix with your hands or a fork until well-blended. Form meat mixture into 36 balls (1 scant tablespoon each). I love any food I can sink my hands into! This made me happy! And oh yeah, I only made 22 meatballs - guess my balls were a little too big #oopsie. 

Assemble and grill kebabs: Prepare grill for cooking over medium-hot charcoal (moderate heat for gas). Thread 6 meatballs 1/4 inch apart onto each of 6 skewers. I was surprised by how easy it was to thread metablls onto skewers. I had visions of them just crumbling and falling apart especially as I picked them up to put them on the grill, but they cooperated. Thank you Baby Jesus! Thread zucchini lengthwise onto remaining 6 skewers, so cut sides are on the grill, leaving 1/4 inch between slices. I was running short on skewers and so I just grilled the zucchini in a grill basket and that worked great.

Grill zucchini and meatballs on oiled grill rack, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, about 4 to 6 minutes on a charcoal grill and 10 minutes on a gas grill.  I have to admit I had some wins and I had some losses when it came to the balls sticking together upon grill flippage. Not sure what I did differently that caused some fo them to stay together and other to explode like fireworks on the 4th of July. Oh well they all tasted the same....which was good!

\Cut a meatball in half to visually check for doneness. Serve warm, with yogurt sauce. My zucchini needed a little longer than 10 minutes, but maybe I cut them too thick....ugh everything seems to go back to my "go big or go home" motto and that doesn't always work well for me in the kitchen. 

If you don’t have a grill: Kebabs can be broiled on 2 large shallow baking pans 5 inches from heat, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Cut a meatball in half to visually check for doneness.

Overall, I loved this recipe. May need to work on overcoming my falling apart issue, but the spices in the meatball mixture were epic - both the dried spices and fresh herbs made for really good flavor. I honestly didn't think the yogurt sauce was even needed, but it was a nice accompaniment. And well how do you go wrong with grilled zucchini. 

I say give it a try and let me know if you had better luck with your kefta staying together or please let me know if you have any tips. Cheers!