The Dish: Moroccan meatballs recipe from Dear Daphni in Philadelphia

time now for the dish and Mediterranean restaurants are having quite a moment in Philadelphia aren't they today we head into the kitchen at dear daffne it's the latest eater in Michael schon's collection and you know I was intrigued when I heard these two words Moroccan meatballs we are making Moroccan meatballs this is a meatball I've never met before this is something completely different that we kind of worked on dear Daphne is a new restaurant at the base level of the Laurel highrise at 20th in Sansom streets it's the first Mediterranean restaurant in Michael schon's Collective it's been an ongoing project that we've followed through with fresh ingredients which is hand inand with the Mediterranean concept the menu spans all of the crown jewels of Mediterranean Cuisine from the iconic dips and spreads to kebabs and these Moroccan meatballs which bring a few cultural twists to your classic ground beef mix this spice blend is our housemade seven spice blend so we have all spice cinnamon coriander you'll still need onion and garlic but also golden raisins and pine nuts for me pine nuts are like the queen yes that's always been the staple when it comes to all the Mediterranean stuff she's expensive too oh right yeah she's expensive and then you have the Holy Trinity if you would which is parsley mint and cilano beautiful now here's where it really gets interesting instead of breadcrumb crumbs or bread Executive Chef Ryan Lloyd went with the more Mediterranean basmati rice had you ever made a meatball with rice before no this was my first go with uh rice how does it read once you cook it it's more of a uh just the binder into it so it adds the added flavor and texture meatball research and development yes like any meatball you incorporate it all with egg and we're off I'm here to roll all right perfect now these meatballs start out in the oven we'll bake it uh at 400° for about 5 to 10 minutes just enough to kind of bind them together you can also just give them a good sear in a pan they smell so good these spices have such a distinct Flavor now they finish cooking them in a Moroccan tomato sauce this sauce is like a traditional uh Pomodoro except for we add more Persian spices to it we'll let that cook for another 5 minutes or so just kind of bring it down and all that sauce is going to absorb into do that uh meatball mix as well save some of that sauce for the big finish can't skip on the gravy right never and because these are Mediterranean they finish this dish off with whipped feta dear Daphne dear DNE it's my first Moroccan meatball M good flavor right so good and the pine nut pops mhm all comes together M that's a nice meatball I have a special relationship with pine nuts I'm not a big pine nut fan but I would never think of putting raisins inside of a meatball yes but I've never met a meatball that I didn't like it's true right I'm sure this is that's how I feel um I do have a few more ideas for you you can bake them all the way through that would take about 15 to 20 minutes and you don't have to serve them with with a red sauce you can serve them with dips like suziki how good would that be delicious