Brothy Lamb Meatballs

Being in quarantine lately I’ve been attempting to go out of my comfort zone; I’ve been making restaurant-type meals in order to calm my desire to eat out. Any meal I could cook is WAY cheaper than ordering in, so why not try to go a little outside of the box?! Enter: brothy lamb meatballs.

Even though I don’t typically want to eat soup- or broth-based meals in the Summer (especially living in sunny SoCal), these brothy lamb meatballs were the perfect mix of hearty & light. Luckily, with green veggies such as sugar snap peas and English peas, and an herbaceous dill topping it’s a great Summer soup!

&&& nice little tidbit: I’ve been having a hard time making meatballs without breadcrumbs as I’ve transitioned to gluten free in the past few month and a half. The secret ingredient here? Whole-Fat Greek Yogurt! What goes better with lamb than yogurt and dill?!

Ingredients for Brothy Lamb Meatballs (2 generous servings)

Lamb Meatball

1 LB. Ground Lamb (I purchased 85% lean)

⅓ Cup Whole-Fat Greek Yogurt

⅓ Cup Dill (finely chopped)

1/2 White Onion (finely chopped)

1 TBSP. Fennel Seeds (whole)

Salt

Pepper

For Serving with Lamb Meatballs

4 Cups Vegetable Stock (see how I make my own here)

1 Cup Fresh Sugar Snap Peas (sliced diagonally)

¼ Cup Frozen Peas

2 TBSP. White Wine Vinegar

1 Shallot (thinly sliced)

4 Cloves Garlic (thinly sliced)

Extra dill for topping

1 Cup Cooked Wild Rice* (I prefer to use the pasta method because I notoriously burn my rice … but read more about it here)

Instructions for Brothy Lamb Meatballs

1. Mix all lamb meatball ingredients (ground lamb, yogurt, fennel seeds, dill, onion, and salt/pepper) lightly together by hand. Use your hands or spoons to make small meatballs (about 1″ in diameter). Put the meatballs on a plate.
2. Heat avocado oil in a soup pot or dutch oven, and brown the meatballs on medium-high heat. Don’t overcrowd the pot, so if needed, cook the lamb meatballs with a few at a time. Once browned (about 8-minutes) remove them and place on a clean plate. Leave any browned bits and oil in the bottom of the pot.
3. Cook the thinly sliced shallot and garlic in the leftover juices and browned bits until the vegetables are soft. (Some pieces of onion may have fallen from the meatballs, keep that in the pot as well)
4. Add the white-wine vinegar and stir together. Scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Once at a simmer, add the cooked lamb meatballs with any juices from the plate. Simmer for about 5-minutes or when the flavors have mixed together.
6. Add the frozen peas and cook for 3-minutes. Add the sliced snap peas and stir together for about 2-minutes. 
7. Serve rice in the bottom of your serving bowls. Pour the lamb meatballs and broth over top the rice. Tear the dill roughly on top. 

*Good substitutes for the rice could be: barley, fregola, or Israeli cous-cous. These are not gluten-free.

Enjoy your brothy lamb meatballs and tell me how you like them in the comments!