Meatballs with Prunes

Last night I suggested this to my husband and like a twelve year old boy who thinks prunes are just for old people with bathroom trouble he said, "That sounds gross". Now I admit it sounds better in French Boulet aux Pruneaux which is how I read it in a French cookbook, so I knew right away that this would be delicious.

It was quite simple to make and we had most of the ingredients on hand. Including the prunes, which my husband asked me to buy, specifically because he wanted to eat more foods favored by old people so that he could avoid eventual bathroom trouble. He ended up admitting that this was a wonderful combination, and that he had fallen victim to what he thinks is a very American misconception about not mixing "good for you" with "good". It does seem that a lot of the time we think in order to be healthy we have to be sacrificing, and if something is rich and delicious it must be an indulgence, something to feel guilty about. I think my favorite part of this whole project is discovering how much rich, delicious, "decadent" food I have been able to eat, while losing weight and feeling healthier. I don't assign any of my mental energy to worrying about how much fat, or how many calories are in any of the recipes. I make no substitutions based on cutting fat or calories. I don't concern myself with how many carbs I'm consuming, or what my carb-to-protein ratio is. Primarily my concerns are, using up the vegetables that come in my CSA box before they go bad, using my time wisely to make sure we have food made when we need it, and so I am not cooking all. the. time. Since I see every ingredient that goes into everything I'm never taken by surprise or tricked into thinking something is healthier than it is. And honestly, I think it is hard to make food that is truly bad for you when you are pretty much working with things that were grown from the ground, or fed from the ground, rather than conjured in a lab. Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like a preachy zealot... suffice it to say, this is working out nicely for me, I'm learning a ton,  eating lots of wonderful food and really not missing much of anything most of the time. On to this delightful recipe.

I found it in the Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook. This is the cookbook version of the blog by the same name. This is the first recipe I have made out of it, but it's a lovely and really enjoyable cookbook with delightful musings on food and entertaining by the author Clothide Dusoullier. (It turns out she consulted on a food show called Bizarre Foods that my friend Superterrific worked on a few years back, when they did an episode in Paris... the food world keeps getting smaller)

I made some modifications to this recipe to accommodate ingredients I had on hand, I will note them in the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground meat (She suggests lamb, but I had grass fed ground beef, so that's what I used. I'm sure lamb would be richer and more luxurious tasting, but the beef worked out well.)
12 good quality prunes (sometimes called dried plums for reasons of perception mentioned above) Pitted and finely chopped
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup (packed) fresh, flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus some extra for garnish
1 tablespoon orange zest, freshly grated and finely minced from two oranges. (I used clementines)
1/4 teaspoon allspice (I did not have any allspice, so I used almost a 1/4 tsp cinnamon, about an 1/8 tsp ginger and a dash of nutmeg. I would have used a ground clove, but I didn't have one.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil 
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the meat, prunes, shallots, garlic, parsley, orange zest, allspice, egg, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well with a fork. Cover and refrigerate from 10 minutes up to 8 hours. (I put it in there for about 45 minutes) 

Remove the bowl from the refrigerator. Wash your hands well, and keep them damp. Scoop out rounded tablespoons of the mixture and roll them into balls between your palms. Set aside in a single layer on two plates until you've used up all the meat. Wash your hands again.


Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add half of the meatballs in a single layer without crowding. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring the meatballs gently around the pan to brown them all over. Set aside on a clean plate and cover with foil while you cook the second batch. Return the first batch to the pan and cover, reheat for 2 minutes. 

Serve over a bed of cous-cous and drizzle a little yogurt over the top and sprinkle some additional chopped parsley on top and a lovely green salad on the side. 

I have some pictures of this, but it keeps failing when I try to upload them, so I will have to try it again later. For now use your imagination.