Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs with Cinnamon & Cumin

Earlier this summer I went camping for the first time in years. There’s a campground my family’s been going to since I was a wee pony-tailed scruffy prepubescent. My memories are vivid — the lake sitting like a jewel, mountains arching behind it, the sun bouncing off everything playfully as we spent hours in the shallows catching frogs and tiny crustaceans. 

Only when our little stomachs grumbled would we stop playing monopoly, shake the sand out of our books and set them aside, trundling up to the lean-to where adults would be dishing out hot dogs and beans. I’d shove as many zebra cakes as possible into my shorts, sneak them into my tent and fall asleep eating them. It was glorious. 

Now that I’m technically a grown-up, camping is a lot more work. 

The packing, unpacking, repacking. Sweeping the tent?? Re-stuffing stubborn sleeping bags back into their cocoons. Securing the food so raccoons don’t invade… The list goes on and on.

Granted, half those things are fun — and of course the best part for me was planning our menu and cooking it outside. For someone who lives in a third floor studio in a little city I felt like a regular ol’ squirel-huntin’, fire-startin’ Katniss Everdeen. 

Going for meals that I could do all of the major prep at home and ahead of time was the goal. Everything was one pan and done in twenty minutes. 

Don’t worry, there were still Zebra Cakes. 

These Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs are fragrant with cinnamon and cumin, studded with sweet golden raisins and salty bits of caper.

Stay Curious.