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Sheet Pan Harissa-Spiced Lamb Meatballs

Sheet Pan Harissa-Spiced Lamb Meatballs

Go ahead and add meatballs to the long list of things I hated when I was younger, but love now that I’ve learned how to cook them well! These harissa-spiced meatballs with roasted veggies are a triple winner, because they’ve won me over on lamb, meatballs, AND sweet potatoes. I didn’t always love lamb, in contrast to my brother, Yoni, who would eat it every day if he could. But these lamb meatballs are packed with freshly ground spices that compliment lamb’s gamey flavor, as well as the usual milk, breadcrumbs, and eggs to bind everything together and add richness to the mixture. The essential ingredient in them is harissa, which is a Northwest African hot chili pepper paste that’s absolutely packed with flavor and heat. Finally, the meatballs get beautifully caramelized in a hot oven, which takes all of the messy splattering of cooking them on the stove top out of the equation. 

Onto the veggies, I have to admit that sweet potatoes are my current absolute favorite vegetable. I find myself roasting one for dinner about every other day this fall, and their sweetness pairs beautifully with peppers and onions here. The best thing about this meal, besides eating it, is that it dirties only two pans in the cooking process (and are they even dirty if you use tinfoil??). I love this sheet pan meal as a weeknight dinner because it’s got everything you need: protein, starch, veggies, heat, savory, sweet, soft, and crunchy. I serve mine with couscous and eat the leftovers for as long as they last, which usually isn’t long in the Bernath home!