thoreau

Grilled Lamb Kofta with Scarlet Quinoa Tomato Cucumber Salad

Kofta:
1/2 pound ground dark meat ground turkey
1/4 pound ground lamb
1 egg
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
2 tablespoon champagne vinegar
2 stalks extremely fine-diced celery
1 teaspoon each of cumin, oregano, and paprika
3 tablespoons panko
season with salt

Mix it all up and refridgerate it all while we make the tabule

I make a cup of scarlet quinoa (add 1 cup of dry scarlet quinoa grain to 1 1/4 cup boiling chicken stock) stir in the quinoa - and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes - take off heat and leave covered for 5 minutes - then fluff with a fork.

meanwhile we'll make our veggies:

the zest and juice of two lemons
1/2 an english cucumber finely diced
equal parts 1 tablespoon mint, parsley, cilantro and dill
4 finely diced tomatoes
2 stalks of finely diced celery
2 tablespoons cumin
salt and pepper to taste

then slowly mix in the quinoa and then once well mixed together - in the fridge till your meat is ready.

yogurt
1 tblspoon ground coriander
1 tblspoon cumin
juice of one lemon

mix it together in the food processor and in the fridge till the meat is ready.

I put the BBQ on high heat.

Make meatballs with a tablespoon - and then roll your meat balls in olive oil, fresh ground pepper and a little ground sea salt.

these will grill very fast on the grille - literally - as you finish setting your meatballs down - immediately start turning them from where you started. MAX 1 minute on each side - then put them on a lightly oiled baking pan - and into the oven for five minutes at 350.

then - its time to serve. Plate the still sizzling koftas on a bed of the scarlet quinoa salad - and garnish with the yogurtcorianderlemon sauce.

This is one of the tastiest dishes I've made in a while. Lots of fresh vibrant flavors.