Cardamom and Tea

lula meatball pizza

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This meatball pizza combines a few of my favorite things:

1) Lula kebab meatballs, full of fresh cilantro and green onion, made in the style of the kind of beloved Italian-American meatballs you might find atop comically large plates of spaghetti.
2) Banadurah harrah sauce, with lots of tomato, lemon, dried mint, and most importantly crushed red pepper.
3) Pizza dough, which can be either homemade or store-bought. You just need about a pound of it, and it doesn’t matter how you get there.
4) Stretchy mozzarella cheese. Save the fresh stuff for caprese, and use shredded here (or else you’ll end up with a soggy mess).
5) Fresh cilantro! Because I can never get enough of it.

The recipe itself is super easy, and pretty streamlined, considering you make the meatballs from scratch. The meatballs simmer in the tomato sauce, so you don’t have to dirty another pan. Then the tomato sauce is reduced down to the perfect consistency, so that the meatball pizza doesn’t end up soggy. The whole thing is baked in a sheet pan, so there’s no pizza stone required. Just make sure you roll out the crust thinly enough, or you’ll have a doughy center. If you have any issues getting the crust to cook through and crisp up enough, place the sheet pan on the floor of your oven for a few minutes until it’s done to your preference.

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lula meatball pizza

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  • Prep Time: 45 minutes*
  • Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 0 hours
  • Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

For the pizza dough:
175g water (3/4 cup)
5g active dry yeast (1 1/2 teaspoons)
4g sugar (1 teaspoon)
290g all purpose flour (2 1/4 cups)
4.5g salt (3/4 teaspoon)
25g extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons)

For the meatballs and banadurah harrah sauce:
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs (25g)
1/4 cup milk (60g)
1 pound lean ground beef (455g)
1 cup chopped cilantro (40g)
2/3 cup chopped green onion (40g), divided in half
3 cloves minced garlic (15g), divided in half
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil (15g)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes (410g)
2 teaspoons dried mint (2g)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (0.5g)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (<0.5g)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (15g)

For the pizza:
Olive oil
225g shredded mozzarella (8 oz / 2 cups)
A handful of extra cilantro and/or mint leaves for garnish

Instructions

  1. Make the pizza dough: Heat the water to 115°F (46°C).
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Stir together and let it sit for about 10 minutes, until it’s a little foamy.
  3. Set your stand mixer up with the hook attachment. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil to the wet ingredients, and bring together at low speed. Once it comes together into a ball, knead for about 5 minutes at medium-high speed, until it smooths out significantly.
  4. Shape it roughly into a ball, and leave it in the stand mixer bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a plate, and let it proof for 1 1/2 hours, or until it’s doubled in size.
  5. For the meatballs and tomato sauce: Place the bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over them, smash them down a little with a fork, and let them sit for about 5 minutes to absorb it.
  6. Combine the hydrated bread crumbs with the ground beef, cilantro, half of the green onion, half the garlic, and the black pepper. Mix everything together evenly, but careful not to over-mix it or compress it.
  7. Shape the meat mixture into about 20 small meatballs, each weighing about 25g. Do not squeeze the meatballs together too tightly—they should be cohesive but a little craggy.
  8. Sprinkle the meatballs evenly with about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and let them sit while you get the sauce going.
  9. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch skillet for 1 minute. Add the other half of the green onions and the other half of the garlic, and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  10. Add the diced tomatoes and let it come up to a simmer. Once it’s simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the tomatoes break down into a thin sauce. If you’re not using a wide frying pan (e.g., if you’re using a tall saucepan), this may take longer.
  11. Add the dried mint, crushed red pepper, oregano, and lemon juice, season to taste, and give it a stir. Add the meatballs so that they’re all nestled into the sauce. Keep the heat at medium-low, cover, and cook for about 8 minutes, until the meatballs are partly cooked. Remove them with a slotted spoon to a plate.
  12. The sauce will be a little on the thin side once the meatballs cook in it. Skim some of the fat from the surface if there is a lot of it, and then simmer it over medium heat (uncovered and meatball-less) for about 5 more minutes, until it’s nicely thickened (see above photos to see the before and after).
  13. For the pizza: Preheat your oven to 465°F (240°C) convection (if you don’t have convection, it may take a couple more minutes to bake). Oil an 18×13” sheet pan.
  14. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pizza dough out to the width and length of the sheet pan. If it keeps shrinking back, let it rest on the counter for about 5 minutes, and then roll it out some more. Pull the corners out as you roll to help it become a rectangle. Place the dough rectangle on the sheet pan, and work the edges out all the way to the sides of the pan by pressing the dough with the tips of your fingers.
  15. Spread the tomato sauce into 1 thin layer over the surface of the dough, leaving a crust border at the edges.
  16. Top with the mozzarella. Then top with the par-cooked meatballs. Brush the crust with a little bit of olive oil.
  17. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the meatballs are completely cooked through and browned, the crust is baked through (especially toward the center) and turning golden brown around the edges, and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
  18. Slice and serve immediately.

Notes

* buy pizza dough to shorten both active and total time

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white bean salad with za’atar labneh balls

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Let’s talk about labneh! Because I’ve got some opinions, and I haven’t posted about my favorite way to make labneh since way back when I first started blogging. Labneh is essentially just strained yogurt. It’s delicious spread on a plate and topped with za’atar and olive oil, and it’s a lovely addition to a number of recipes (check out the archives for some inspiration). You can buy it ready-made in Middle Eastern markets, and you can also make your own, with different strategies requiring varying degrees of industriousness.

Back when I first posted about it, I tried a few of the most popular labneh-making techniques, and then gave a little blind taste-test to my friends to see which one they enjoyed the most: the one made from homemade yogurt was far and away the winner of the bunch (why are so many of the best things in life labor-intensive??), but the one made from plain-old yogurt was a very close second, and the one made from Greek yogurt was the least favorite of the bunch.

It’s absolutely nothing against Greek yogurt as it is (a staple of my—and probably also your—fridge!), but commercially strained yogurts don’t generally want to be strained further. Most have been spun with a mechanical centrifuge, and if you try to continue to strain them in your kitchen, the whey that comes out will be super cloudy and white, when it’s supposed to be clear and yellowish. This results in a somewhat chalky labneh, and while it’s still delicious (I mean, I’ll just say that there was no labneh of any kind left over at the end of the taste test), it just doesn’t taste quite the same as the real deal. And at the end of the day, whether you use Greek vs. plain yogurt doesn’t make a different in time, cost, or convenience. So if you ask me, there’s no question which is your best bet.

So here’s my official labneh recommendation:

If you make your own yogurt or have always wanted to, that’s your best bet for the most wonderful labneh ever. But! If you don’t make your own yogurt (I meannnn—understandable!), you can still make an extremely delicious labneh by starting with plain old store-bought unstrained yogurt. Just make sure you stay away from already strained Greek yogurt.

I recommend using an Indian or Arabic brand of plain yogurt, if you can easily find one (they tend to have very few additives and stabilizers, which helps a ton), or starting with another plain unstrained yogurt whose taste you really love, because the actual flavor won’t change much after straining. Try to stay away from any brands that you would never use in a savory recipe… I’m thinking of one in particular, which has a really specific live culture flavor that really only works well with berries, even though it’s technically unsweetened and unflavored.

For specific labneh straining instructions, you can visit my original labneh post, and check out this post to learn how to make your own yogurt.

That pretty much sums up my labneh thoughts, so let’s dive into this delicious salad, which features everyone’s favorite—labneh balls! When you strain labneh for an extra-long time, it eventually becomes the texture of cream cheese, which you roll up into little balls and cover with all your favorite spices. Saima Khan has a lovely labneh ball recipe for Cook for Syria, if you’re looking for more ideas. I love serving labneh balls with crackers as an appetizer, but I also love throwing them into a salad. The key here is to make them a little smaller than you might think, so you don’t get too much labneh in one bite, and so they have enough surface area to get a lot of flavor out of the spices they’re rolled in.

Here, I’ve coated them in za’atar and tossed them with a white bean salad, adapted from the always classic Moosewood Cookbook’s “Just White Beans.” It’s been one of my favorites for literally decades, and I love the way it’s just perfect on its own, while inviting adaptation. Everyone’s favorite part is always the pickled pink red onions, but they’ve got some serious competition here with the addition of za’atar labneh balls.

If you don’t feel like straining labneh, you can totally feel free to use chèvre (fresh goat cheese) here. It’ll give it a completely different flavor, but it’s also delicious. I’ve also included instructions below the recipe if you don’t have time to make the red onions ahead, and need them to be ready, like, now.

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white bean salad with za’atar labneh balls

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adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 day*
  • Yield: serves 4 as a main, 6 as a side

Ingredients

for the pickled red onions:

  • 1 red onion, sliced thinly (240g)
  • 1/2 cup water (115g)
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar (115g)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (9g)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar (5g)

for the salad:

  • 3 14-oz cans white beans (1200g total, any combination of black eyed peas, navy, cannellini, or butter beans)
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (40g)
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (30g)
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed through a press (5g)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (1g)
  • 1/4 cup basil, chiffonade (10g)
  • 2 tablespoons dill, coarsely chopped (5g)
  • Salt to taste
  • 4.5oz (about 1/2 cup) extra-thick strained labneh (125g)**
  • 2 tablespoons za’atar (15g)
  • 1/4 cup strained pickled red onions (35g)

Instructions

  1. Pickle the onions:* Place the thinly sliced red onion in a clean jar. Combine the water, 1/2 cup vinegar, salt, and sugar in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Once the salt and sugar dissolve, remove from heat and pour over the onions. Tamp them down a bit with a fork, cover loosely with a lid, let them come to room temperature, screw the lid on, and stash in the refrigerator for at least a few hours (they’ll last for weeks, and are best after 24 hours).
  2. Make the salad: Strain and rinse the white beans, and place in a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, garlic, black pepper, basil, dill, and salt to taste. Toss together and set aside.
  3. Roll the labneh into about 20-25 small balls, and roll each ball in za’atar to coat it completely. Chill them for a few minutes so they don’t fall apart. Add the labneh balls and pickled red onions (reserve some for garnish) to the white beans, and gently fold them in.
  4. Garnish with the red onions you set aside, and serve.

Notes

* If you don’t have time to let the onions pickle, make a quickle: simply top a heaping 1/4 cup of thinly sliced red onions with vinegar, salt them to taste, let them sit for 30 minutes, and then strain and use in the salad. They’ll be crunchier and a bit harsher, so use them sparingly. These will only last a couple days in the fridge.

** Feel free to use chèvre instead, for a different flavor. If you’re using store-bought labneh, you will probably need to strain it further for a couple hours. If you’re making homemade labneh, let it strain until it’s the consistency of cream cheese (at least 16 hours). And again, if you’re making it from scratch, make sure you start with plain unstrained yogurt (preferably an Indian or Arabic brand), and not Greek yogurt. Chèvre works great in this recipe, as it has a similar consistency to extra-thick labneh, but obviously a completely different flavor. Delicious either way!

To make this ahead and store it: The white beans can marinate with the dressing and herbs in the refrigerator for a day or two, but the pickled red onions should be added to the salad at the last minute before serving, or their color will start to fade. The onions are best pickled overnight, so I like to make both components the day before, store them separately, and then throw them both together when it’s serving time. But leftovers are super delicious and keep well in the fridge for a few days. You will have extra pickled red onions leftover after throwing some on the salad, but they last for a couple weeks in the refrigerator, and you’ll want to start putting them on absolutely everything.

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