When I lived in Beirut, I often went with my mother to the butcher’s. As a child, I had a morbid fascination with severed sheep’s heads, carcasses, and knives. I was fascinated by how our butcher would wield his knife, slicing meat off carcasses, then chopping it by hand before chopping herbs and onions and adding it to the chopped meat to make kefta. In those days, even though my mother pounded her own meat for kibbeh in a mortar with a heavy wooden pestle, she asked the butcher to make the kefta; but she insisted on being there to watch the whole process to make sure the butcher was giving her the meat she wanted and not another cheaper cut. I would stand next to her, mesmerized by the butcher’s dexterity with his very large and very sharp knife. I make my kefta at home, grinding the meat in a meat grinder and chopping the parsley and onion in a food processor. If you don’t have a meat grinder, I suggest you do as my mother did and buy the cut you want from your butcher (either shoulder or leg), then ask him to grind it for you. This way you will make sure you have the best-quality ground meat— store-bought preground meat is too fatty and often made from off-cuts. Serve on a bed of Onion and Parsley Salad and with flatbread.

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 medium onions (7 ounces/200 g total), quartered
• 1 ounce (30 g) fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1 pound 2 ounces (500 g) ground lamb, from the shoulder
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon Lebanese 7-Spice Mixture
• Sea salt and finely ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put the onions and parsley in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Add the ground meat, spices, and salt and pepper to taste and mix well with your hands. Pinch a little off and sear in a hot pan. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Divide the meat into 12 equal portions.
2. Prepare a charcoal fire in an outdoor grill or preheat the broiler to high.
3. Roll each portion of meat into a ball. Put one in the palm of your hand, take a long, flat skewer—the meat will hold better on a flat one—and start wrapping the meat around the skewer, squeezing it upward, then downward to bind it to the skewer in the shape of a long flat sausage. Taper the ends and place on a rack ready to grill or broil. Shape the rest of the meat on the remaining skewers the same way.
4. Grill or broil the meat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until it is done to your liking. Serve hot.