Sesame lamb meatballs, broad bean puree, and some other stuff.
I made a sort of mezze-style meal for uon and rjw1 last night.

First of all I made sesame lamb meatballs, vaguely inspired by a recipe on Epicurious, but I actually did it completely differently. I pureed a red onion and mixed it with a pound of lamb mince, two beaten eggs, some salt, ground cinnamon, ground coriander, and ground fennel, and enough dried breadcrumbs to make it not be runny. Then I made it into meatballs and rolled half of them in black sesame seeds to coat them, and the other half in ground almonds. It would have been white sesame seeds instead of almonds, but I couldn't find them (I found them this evening when looking for something else; I need to sort out my cupboards). Then I put them on a baking tray and baked them for about 25 minutes at something like 190C (375F, Gas Mark 5). They were good, and quite pretty. The seeds/ground almonds stayed on no problem.

I also made broad bean puree, or, rather, doop made broad bean puree with me offering vague instructions/suggestions while I was concentrating on something else. I'd previously taken some broad beans out of their pods, boiled them for about 3 minutes, let them cool, then took off the grey skins. This does a lot for the texture, colour, and flavour - you lose bitterness and gain tenderness and a lovely deep green colour. I tossed them with olive oil and put them in the fridge overnight. Obviously this is not a required step; it was for convenience. OK, so doop had naked broad beans. He put them in the blender with, er, some stuff. I wasn't entirely paying attention. I think lemon juice, garlic puree, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, something else? Anyway, he whizzed it up until it was smooth, adding a bit of water to stop it being too thick and burning the motor out. It was very very tasty and a lovely bright green colour.

I also did courgettes (sliced and fried in olive oil), parathas (ready-made, cook from frozen), and potato things (leftover baked potatoes, cut into wedges, and baked with the meatballs but for a bit less time). And doop made tomato/red onion salad with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and possibly some other stuff I've forgotten about.