Minted Meatballs with Parsley Almond Pesto

Sometimes the most delicious recipes happen by accident.  Take these meatballs for example; they were supposed to be my famous lamb burgers!  I have been making these amazing lamb burgers for almost a year now and keep meaning to share the recipe, however every time I make them the lighting is all wrong to photograph or I'm simply too hungry.  Atlas, you will have to wait a little longer for the recipe.  See somehow I grabbed a bag of beets instead of ground lamb when I went to cook these up.  Yes, I thought I had ground lamb in the fridge and instead it was a bag of beets. When I told Nick the grim news he flew out to the store, afraid I was going to cook up beets and call it a meal.  Ha.

He came back with beef, as there was no lamb, and I went with it. I have to say, it was a fantastic mistake because these minted meatballs were born!   I happened to make the pesto I usually put on the lamb burgers slightly different anyway, so I decided to continue to change things up by making these into mini meatballs.  The combination of the nutty, salty pesto with the slightly minty and spicy meatballs is just wonderful.  The meatballs alone are slightly bland, however with the pesto they are transformed into tasty beef finger food!  I left the pesto slightly chunky which adds a hearty quality to this dish and allows it to be both a tasty appetizer or main meal.  We ate these with a giant side of sautéed red kale and ruby chard.  Perfection!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.  Switch up your meatball routine and eat outside the box with these minted meatballs with parsley almond pesto!

Minted Meatballs with Parsley Almond Pesto

For the meatballs:
1 lb free-range ground beef
6-7 fresh mint leaves, chopped fine
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Line a rimmed baking pan with tin foil.
2. Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix with your hands until just combined.
3. Using a melon scoop, or tablespoon, scoop the meat mixture into the palm of your hand and roll them into balls.  Place on the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve warm with pesto.

For the pesto:
1 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1/3 cup toasted almonds
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 oz sheep's milk feta cheese
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil*

*If you want a thinner pesto, slowly add more olive oil until desired consistency is reached.

Directions:
1.  Add the garlic and almonds to the base of a food processor and blend until a coarse meal forms.
2.  Add the parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil and blend until smooth.  Add more olive oil as necessary.
3.  Add the feta and cayenne pepper and blend until smooth.