Zorba the Greek, the dance scene on the beach.

Lamb, lemons, rice, and mint combine here to make a dish as traditionally Greek as the dance in the movie clip above, posted just to get you in the mood for a good Greek dinner.

Lamb meatballs made with rice, simmered in chicken broth, and served in an egg and lemon sauce (avgolemono) is wonderful peasant food that can be served for any occasion. A little salad with feta to go with it – and a Lebanese or Turkish Coffee after – makes quite a heavenly little feast.  It’s not too expensive.  The rice helps stretch the meat.

Gluten-free “Porcupines” in Lemon Sauce, Youvarlakia

The recipe

Serves four

Prepare the meatballs:

• 1 pound of ground lamb
• 1 large onion, grated
• 1/4 cup Lundberg Brown Jasmine Rice
• 1/4 olive oil (does not have to be first press)
• 1 teaspoon fresh spearmint, very finely minced or crumbled
• Black pepper to taste
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 large omega-3 free-range egg
• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley, finely minced
• 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour

Prepare the sauce:

• 2 cups of homemade gluten-free chicken broth or 1 sixteen-ounce package of Imagine Organic Free Range Chicken Broth, gluten-free
• 5 tablespoons European butter, room temperature
• 3 large omega-3 range-free eggs, at room temperature and separate
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, from Meyer lemons if you can get them

Combine the first eleven ingredients, which are listed under “prepare the meatballs” above. Keep working the mixture until it is like paste, then form into small balls just a bit larger than a ping-pong ball.  Roll the meatballs in the flour

Bring the broth to a boil in a large soup pot and add the meatballs, carefully one-by-one.  Break up the butter into small pieces with your hands and distribute it over the meatballs.  Cover the pot. Turn down the heat to simmer and let the meatballs cook for forty-five minutes.

Turn off the heat.  Separate out one cup of the broth.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and then whip the egg whites with some salt until they are fluffy but not quite stiff. Slowly add the yolks and then the lemon juice. Continue whipping. (I do this by hand.)  Finally, slowly add the cup of broth that you set aside.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs.  Do not stir or the meatballs will break.  Do not cover the pot.  The sauce will curdle.  Just slowly shake the pot to incorporate the sauce with the meatballs.

Dinner and a movie?  So how about renting a copy of Zorba?