A few weeks ago I was invited to an event hosted by Ballymaloe Gourmet Irish Ketchup for a tasting of their condiments and modern Irish food. It was a fantastic event and a wonderful chance to discover a new line of all-natural and sustainable product.
I’ve been taking more time to really think about what I’m eating these days and what extra non-essential ingredients are added into the products that I buy. Ketchup should taste like tomatoes not sugar. Cranberry sauce should be tart with just a touch of sweet so your cheeks don’t instantly pucker.
This isn’t to say that junk food doesn’t find it’s way into my hands every now and then but there is a sluggish feeling I associate after eating something that isn’t completely real.
Ballymaloe generously sent us home with their entire product line that evening and two items spotted in the bag instantly sparked an idea to update a family favorite recipe. A few times a year my mom would make what I would identify as “Swedish meatballs” little did I know that her meatballs weren’t the real Swedish ones. They were simply sweet and sour meatballs, made from a sauce of currant or grape jelly and chilli sauce.
It was delicious and I ate it up. It also became my signature dish during college.
I thought it might be time for a little upgrade switching out beef for lamb, that grape jelly for cranberry sauce and a nice glaze instead of cooking directly in a big pot of sauce.
Ingredients
- 1lb ground lamb
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup chilli sauce (such as Ballymaloe Gourmet Irish Ketchup with Chilli)
- 1/3 cup cranberry sauce (such as Ballymaloe Cranberry)
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine the ground lamb, onion, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Form into 10 ping pong ball sized meatballs and place on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes and remove from the oven.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the chilli sauce, cranberry sauce and water.
- Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the cranberry has broken down and a nice glaze has been formed.
- Brush half the sauce on top of the meatballs and return to the oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove, flip, brush the remaining sauce and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
- For a full meal, serve over a bowl of jasmine or brown rice.
I was provided with samples of Ballymaloe Gourmet Irish Ketchup. No additional compensation was provide and always all opinions stated are my own.
I love lamb meatballs! These are going on the must make list!
We love this sauce. It is so easy. I really like that you made lamb meatballs though. My husband would enjoy that immensely.
Ooh cranberry glaze on lamb meatballs?! That’s a first unless my memory fails me. 🙂 We love lamb everything and these look wonderful!
You had me at cranberry. Ha. This would easily be a family hit…especially if I serve them with toothpicks. Give a kid a toothpick and I swear they’ll eat anything.
Oh sweet Mamma, pass that plate please!
That cranberry glaze sounds amazing!
You had me at lamb, and then you went and made it even better with the glaze. I love the idea of using cranberry instead of grape. Genius.
I’m not sure that I could control myself around these. YUM!
I love these meatballs, I could eat the whole plate!
My husband loves cranberry chilli meatballs… I never considered making them with lamb, but that sounds amazing!
Me likey doesn’t quite suffice here. These look so amazing. I love meatballs, this is a cool twist.
Lamb is super popular in our house! I bet they’d love this!