A tremendous snack or appetizer, and an especially popular hors d’oeuvre. The sauce is simply a demi-glace mounted with crème fraîche and butter – so easy and rich that it’s almost a joke. But it’s an easy crowd pleaser, so why not? You can use lamb demi-glace if you have it on hand; I actually prefer veal demi-glace. It’s a mellower sauce that provides a broad base for the lambiness of the balls to shine through – making it with lamb demi-glace is such a concentrated lamb flavor that the balls themselves become overwhelmed and are just a delivery system for the sauce. So that’s up to you – try it both ways and see which you prefer. I generally don’t make veal stock since the bones are trickier to procure than chicken, so I buy a pre-made veal demi-glace and it works well. I don’t know the brand that I tend to use, but I generally think if someone is making veal demi-glace for retail, it’s a pretty good bet that it’s high-end, so you don’t really have to worry about getting stuck with a low quality one. Also, I don’t use any sort of panade in the lamb balls – just lamb and herbs and a bit of cheese. The result is a tighter morsel, so it helps to keep these small. They should be eaten with toothpicks, not forks and knives – think cocktail weenies with kraft bbq and grape jelly sauce, just fashioned for the Coastal Urban Hypocrite rather than the Midwestern Class Act.
Finally, a word about truffle oil. I love truffles. Don’t get me wrong. I have a memory of having a huge mound of fresh white truffles shaved at the table onto a steaming bowl of buttery fresh fettuccini somewhere in the Italian countryside. I don’t think that memory is actually mine, but whoever told it to me described it in such awe-struck detail that it left a huge impression on me and became implanted in my own memory bank so vividly that I can almost smell the truffles when I recall it. The problem with truffles is that they are so associated with delicacy and luxury, many restaurants use canned black truffles or truffle oil to excess. Under-educated and over-pretentious diners who rarely get to eat truffles (like most of us) immediately feel like they’re eating the rarest, most sophisticated, complex, and delicious food in the world, simply because it tastes like truffles – no matter that whatever they’re eating without the truffle is so often humdrum or worse. Yes, truffles can elevate the overall quality and experience of a dish, but using canned truffles or truffle oil is just plain cheating. It’s a shortcut to exotic excellence. How can you make a rare and delectable experience so accessible? You’re not fooling me, crappy restaurateurs. The other issue with truffles is that their flavor is so powerful that it tends to dominate all other flavors. That means that their overuse will result in a) masking all other flavors (back to cheating), and/or b) making all the food you serve taste the same (the steak tastes like truffles, the gnocci tastes like truffles, and the seared tuna tastes like truffles. Great.). If your thing is about truffles, let the truffles shine, use fresh truffles, and don’t be shy with them. But if your thing is something else, like seared scallops, or mac and cheese, or chicken soup, for chrissakes, put the damn truffle oil down.
That being said, I do keep white truffle oil around for occasional use, because there are some things that it just makes that much more enjoyable. I don’t cheat with it, don’t add it where it doesn’t belong, and when it does find its way into a dish, I use it sparingly. Since I mostly make these lamb balls to put out at a party, and most people are idiots, a few drops of truffle oil in the sauce just increases the ooh and ahh factor, so why the hell not?
Ingredients:
For the lamb balls:
- 1.5 lbs ground lamb
- 4 TBS olive oil
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced
- 1 TBS fresh thyme, minced
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 TBS red pepper flakes
- 2 oz grated sheep’s milk cheese
- Salt and pepper
For the sauce:
- ¼ cup veal demi-glace
- 6 oz crème fraîche
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 2 TBS butter
- ¼ tsp (a few drops) of white truffle oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
Start by making the lamb balls. Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly with your finger-tips. Don’t overwork the meat or knead it like dough. Pinch off a small portion and fry it to evaluate the seasonings. Adjust if necessary.
Form the lamb balls and place on a plate. They should all be smaller than a golf ball – say roughly the size of a large marble. If you have time, place them in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes so that their shape firms up. The technique here is just the same as cooking meatballs, so for a more detailed account, see that entry.
Fry the meatballs in a large skillet, keeping them moving and working in batches if necessary. Drain on a paper towel and keep warm. These can be held in a warm oven for up to an hour without suffering in any way. Longer than that and they may dry out. They don’t need to be served piping hot, and will actually work well just warmed or even at room temperature (or by the handful, late-night, direct from the fridge).
Once the balls are made, start making the sauce. This won’t do as well if it’s served at room temperature, so when this is ready, the balls get served, and it should be the last thing you do. In a small sauce pan, begin to melt the demi-glace over medium heat. Whisk together the crème fraîche and lemon juice in a bowl; when the demi-glace is bubbling gently, whisk in the crème fraîche mixture. Turn the heat to high and whisk constantly; season with salt and pepper. Once it comes to a brisk boil, reduce the heat so it’s at a brisk simmer and cook for 2 to three minutes until it has thickened slightly. Mount with butter, and when it has melted, add the truffle oil. Give it a few more whisks, then pass through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.
Put the lamb balls on a platter with plenty of toothpicks and the bowl of sauce in the middle. Serve and enjoy without double dipping.
The Grumpy Gastronome 
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