Tunisian Harissa Meatballs

TUNISIAN HARISSA MEATBALLS

I had some leftover Tunisian harissa in the fridge and came up with this wild idea to do some meatballs as was also craving some home made hummus, toasted pine nuts on cous cous.  I tend to favor Tunisian harissa over the Moroccan one, both of course of N. Africa.  However if you do not have a large mid east community of stores near you where you live, you will likely be using the jarred harissa found in most mainstream grocery stores these days.  

• 1.25 lbs ground turkey/dark meat
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/3 cup pulled flat leaf/Italian parsley or any parsley you have available to you
• 2 heaping tablespoons of harrissa.  Less if heat is not your thing.
• One teaspoon of Ras El Hanout if can find it.  It is a mix of Coriander, cumin, garlic, turmeric, ginger, onion, salt, black pepper, onion, salt, cloves, paprika, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  
  
  
  
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs for mixing in.  Less if using less harissa.  Mix in until you can effectively create a meatball without pasted to your hand.

• Pan fry just to sear in olive oil the meatballs but not to totally cook them.  Remove after a quick pan sear on medium high and place in your cooking vessel as we will finish them off in the oven.
• Smallest can of roma tomatoes whole you can find or for this amount of meat, only about half the the can should be used.  
• Throw the tomatoes in the same pan from which you seared your meatballs.
• Add one tablespoon harissa.  
• One teaspoon of salt.
• Couple of sprigs of mint, don't bother pulling the leaves and chopping, just leave the sprig whole as seasoning the sauce.  
• Pour over your meatballs in your cooking vessel, cover and bake for about 40 minutes on 350 to get your turkey meatballs cooked fully and some flavor fusion.  

I went with some Israeli cous cous with toasted pine nuts but would probably do the smaller cous cous next go round.  Normally this would be a ground lamb meatball or sausage traditional to N. Africa but just trying to lighten it up for my old keaster:)  Strong bold flavor of Tunisia.  Can serve with a side of Lebne or Greek yogurt.