Syrian Lamb Kebabs

I had these kebabs a few months ago and realized they were what I was looking for when I made the Greek Kefetedes.  Those were good,

syrian lamb kebabs

but these were better because they have that all-important allspice, which I’m really diggin’ right now.  It makes meat so much more interesting.  This recipe comes from the New York Times, but I made some modifications.  I left out the onions, obviously, and the pine nuts- they were like $4.00 for about a half cup, so I said forget it.  I didn’t miss them that much, and you probably won’t either.  You can form the kebabs a few ways…you can press the meat into a solid cylinder all along the skewer, make several smaller meatballs on the skewer like I did, or forgo the skewers all toghter and make large egg-shaped meatballs that won’t fall through the grill grate.  I served these on grilled pocket-less pitas, with tzatziki and lettuce and tomatoes.  And yes, those are snowflakes on the serving dish.  Serves 6-8.

Ingredients:

2 lb ground lamb or beef

4 T tomato paste

2/3 c minced onion

2 t salt

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 t cinnamon

2 dashes of cayenne

1 T ground allspice

1/3 c pine nuts

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and knead until extremely well mixed.  Form meat into kebabs on skewers, or into egg-shpaed meatballs large enough to place on a grill rack.  Refridgerate for 1 hour (this is important because it prevents the kebabs from falling apart on the grill).

Heat grill and oil the grill rack.  Place kebabs on grill and cook, turning to grill each side, until cooked through, about 10 minutes total.  Serve warm.