Meatballs and Muhummara!

There are few stranger things than the concepts of "loaf of meat" (meatloaf) and "ball of meat" (meatball). I once had a rather hilarious conversation with a dear friend and fellow bread baker about who was smoking what when the concept of meatloaf came about. We eat loaves of bread, thankyouverymuch. We prefer our meat in fillet, medallion, sliced, or shredded form. But even the foodie blowhards have to agree that a good meatball sandwich can make your heart all a-flutter with comfort-food satisfaction! Here are some good 411s on meatloaf and meatballs, in case you're wondering how exactly world cuisine comes up with this stuff (like I often do). And with everything going gourmet these days (from rabbit sausage to grilled Gruyère cheese sandwiches), it seems logical that loaves and balls of meat should follow.

Over the holiday weekend, I tried this absolutely fantabulous recipe from this month's Bon Appetit: Lamb Kofte with Yogurt Sauce and Muhammara. I made a few minor adjustments here and there (I think the Bon Ap test kitchen went waaaaaaay overboard on the spices; I cut it all down by half), and I did make pomegranate molasses from scratch via a comment posted on a pomegranate-related entry at Coconut & Lime in November (only because I was too cheap and it was too cold in Chicago that weekend to go out looking for some). I also favor the tzatziki sauce recipe I posted (with cucumber) in the Falafel posting earlier this week, so I used that instead of the yogurt sauce here. But as you can see from our photo gallery below, we enjoyed a grand spread to commemorate the end of a long, lovely and relaxing New Year's weekend.