OK, I think I've got something worthy to post about. I've been fucking around with various ground meat mixtures from time to time, making little kebabs or meatballs or whatever, and I've found a result I'm reasonably happy with, at least as a launching point for future experimentation. You'll need:

• Two pounds ground lamb - ground yourself if possible.
• 1 poiund ground beef
• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs - ideally from a rosemary bread
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon sumac
• 1.5 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

INGREDIENT NOTES: If you're using store-bought ground lamb, you may want to consider upping ghe ground beef ratio (maybe a pound and a half of each) and going with a leaner ground beef - I find store-bought ground lamb to be stronger-flavored and fattier than home-ground leg of lamb.

PREP: Dump everything into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Let stand for at least 20 minutes. Form one to one and a half inch meatballs by rolling them in your hands.

COOKING: Arrange meatballs evenly on baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 20 minutes will give you a slightly browner meatball with a firmer,slightly drier consistency, which I actually kind of like. The meatballs should still be cooked through after 15 minutes, and will be a bit grayer, but juicier. You can also cook these in a pan, if you're making a smaller batch, to get them nicely browned on the outside, but this batch makes about 50 meatballs, and pan-cooking would have taken forever.

Cleanup is, unfortunately, not a snap - expect very messy cookie sheets when you're done. serve with some kind of bright dipping sauce, like a flavored yogurt or a fruit chutney.