Love of Lamb
by As a Greek person, lamb has always had a significant impact on my life. I've had it prepared in lots of different ways. I've noticed that there is a lot of misinformation out there about how lamb is supposed to be prepared and supposed to taste. Tell me some of your favorite ways to have lamb, and I'll share some secret family recipes and some of my own creations.
Delictible Roasted Lamb
1 5 lb. Leg of Lamb (preferable bone-in)
5 Russet Potatoes, peeled and chopped to about 1/2 inch peices
5 Carrots, peeled and chopped to about 1/2 inch peices or about 3 c. of baby carrots
5 celery stalks, peeled and chopped to about 1/2 inch peices
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 c. Fresh dill
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Preheat oven to about 350 degrees.
Clean outer skin and fat of leg of lamb. Be sure to remove all the outer membranes so that the skin is still marble-ized, but there is no visible layer of fat. Rub the lamb with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Place the lamb in a large baking pan and lay the vegetables around it, placing the potatoes closer to the top.
In a medium bowl, empty the can of crushed tomatoes, then fill it with water and add to bowl. Add a judicious amount of salt and pepper, so that you can clearly see the pepper in the mixture. Add about 1 cup of fresh dill, chopped finely. Stir well.
Pour the tomato mixture over the lamb and vegetables, making sure that there's enough to get to almost the top of the veggies, but not completely covering them.
Top the lamb with the rest of the dill sprigs, unchopped.
Roast for about 2 hours or until 130 degrees internal temperature.
Serve with veggies and tomato sauce and enjoy!
AI Summary
46 Comments
This recipe was in Bon Appetit (or Gourmet?) recently. I can't wait to try it:
MERLOT-BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH SAFFRON AND ROSE WATER
Ingredients
5 (3- by 1-inch strips) fresh orange zest
1/2 gram saffron threads, crumbled (1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 cup Middle Eastern rose water
6 small lamb shanks (41/2 to 5 lb total)
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 medium onions, finely chopped (4 cups)
1 small head of garlic, cloves peeled and thinly sliced crosswise
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest (see Tips, page 159)
1 (3- to 4-inch) cinnamon stick
4 cups Merlot or other medium-bodied dry red wine
1 cup water
1 tablespoon mild honey
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (optional)
Directions
Cut orange zest diagonally into very thin strips, then add to a 1-quart saucepan half-filled with water and bring to a boil. Drain zest strips in a sieve. Combine saffron and rose water in a cup. Pat lamb dry, then put on a large sheet of parchment or wax paper and rub all over with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Put flour in a fine-mesh sieve and dust lamb, turning, to coat. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a wide 7- to 9-quart heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown lamb all over, in 2 batches if necessary, turning with tongs, 6 to 8 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325°F. Wipe pot clean, then add remaining 3 tablespoons oil, onion, garlic, lime zest, cinnamon stick, and orange zest and cook over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in wine, water, honey, saffron mixture, and remaining teaspoon each of salt and pepper, then add lamb shanks and bring to a simmer. Cover tightly and braise in oven until meat is very tender but not falling off bone, 21/2 to 3 hours. *Carefully transfer lamb shanks to a large deep ovenproof serving dish and keep warm, loosely covered with foil, in turned-off oven. Skim fat from surface of sauce, then boil sauce until reduced to about 4 cups, 5 to 15 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick and stir in lime juice if desired and salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over lamb.
I'm not sure how I feel about the cinnamon, honey and lime; I might leave that out. That's a very Turkish lamb flavor, I'm staying true to my Greek heritage and using Greek rose water (surprisingly, there's a difference) and good Greek wine.
mmmmm....lamb....
i really want to make gyros, but i need ground lamb and none of the grocery stores around here carry it. grr.
Oooh, I love the tzaki sauce. This greek diner down the street put it on a wrap with fresh cucumber, bean spouts and other finely sliced veggies. So yummy.
Could you ask the butcher at your local grocery store to grind the lamb for you? They've trimmed fat for me before, I think they don't mind doing stuff like that.
yea, i found a really great sounding recipe, it's one of those ones that take two days, cuz the mound of seasoned meat has to sit over night, as does the yogurt sauce...which is very frustrating, cuz as i cook, i get excited about it being done...two days is a long time to wait! haha
Ooooh, that sounds good! I hate leaving meat in my fridge to marinate - it always looks so good just sitting there, I start to think if a little taste of raw meat would be soooo bad. :)
here's the recipe, i don't know why i remembered it as two days, it's just two hours. ha
Gyro Meat with Tzatziki Sauce Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
User Rating:
1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
2 pounds ground lamb
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Tzatziki Sauce, recipe follows
Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.
To cook in the oven as a meatloaf, proceed as follows:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes and feta cheese.
To cook on a rotisserie, proceed as follows:
Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and place on top of 2 overlapping pieces of plastic wrap that are at least 18 inches long. Roll the mixture in the plastic wrap tightly, making sure to remove any air pockets. Once the meat is completely rolled in the wrap, twist the ends of the plastic wrap until the surface of the wrap is tight. Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight, to allow the mixture to firm up.
Preheat the grill to high.
Place the meat onto the rotisserie skewer. Place a double-thick piece of aluminum foil folded into a tray directly under the meat to catch any drippings. Cook on high for 15 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium and continue to cook for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F. Turn off the heat and allow to continue to spin for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees. Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes, and feta cheese.
Tzatziki Sauce:
16 ounces plain yogurt
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
Pinch kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced
Place the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Place the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; discard liquid. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the drained yogurt, cucumber, salt, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and mint. Serve as a sauce for gyros. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
The Tzatziki (I butchered the spelling of that above) sounds good, but my grandmother always used dill and mint, which I think is an incredible combo. Let us know how it goes!
i made these gyros last night, they were SOOOO great! i was so excited, cuz they really tasted just as i remembered they should. they were so good, it was A LOT of work though, especially because i don't have a full size food processor, i have a mini one....but it was well worth it.
I thought you normally just shaved meat off a leg of lamb for gyros?
i made a lamb shank in my rotisserie oven last night, with mashed potatoes, and it came out really good...and today, there were leftovers of everything, so i made a lamb stew in the crock pot, with onions, lots of garlic, potatoes, mushrooms, beef stock, and marsala wine and about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
when that was done cooking, i remembered that i still had the mashed potatoes left, so i layered that on top of the stew and put the whole thing in the broiler for 20 mins, so it got nice and crusty on top....it was fantastic!
i love experimenting with food, especially when it comes out good! :-)
ps: i love you crockpot.
so last night, i made a leg of lamb for the first time, (my inlaws came over for dinner) it came out phenominal!!! it was a 7lb leg of lamb...w/ the bone...first, i did like i described below....
Make slits all over the lamb & stuffed it w/ garlic clove, a chunk of parmigano, & a sprig of parsly...then i made a mixture of italian breadcrumbs, fresh thyme & rosemary, olive oil, salt & pepper, and i slathered the lamb with it. then you put it in the oven for the first 20 mins at 450....to form a nice crust, then roast it the rest of the way at 350. it was sooo delicious..then i made stuffed tomatos & roasted potatos to go with it...using the same basic herbs as on the lamb...except with the stuffed tomatoes i used quite a bit of grated provolone cheese.
i have to say it's kind of cool that i married a non-italian, because his family is always so impressed w/ my italian cooking and it's ways they have never had it. all thanks to my mom & gramma! :-)
Juicy's Dinner:
In a large pan, brown 1 onion, finely chopped, and 1 zucchini/squash, cubed about 1.5 inches over 1 T. olive oil and 1 T. butter. Add 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, crushed in your palm to make it less "sharp". Add 1 teaspoon sugar. Once the onion is translucent (the zucchini might still be crisp), remove the mixture from the pan.
Break each lamb patty up into 4 quarters. Add a little more butter to the pan and brown them on high heat, on both sides. Add the juice from the can of crushed tomatoes and simmer for a minute or two. Add half the can of tomatoes and the onion/zuccini mixture. Add about 1 T of oregano and simmer for like 5 minutes, or until the zuccini are tender on the outside but crisp on the inside. (you could add the whole can of tomatoes if the mixture seems a little too dry or doesn't taste that good to you. And add more oregano if the flavor is a little too weak.)
This would be really nice over penne, but probably not angel hair. I know you don't want to make the brown rice, so if you have more than one zuchini: Halve it lengthwise and scoop out most of the seeds, either with a spoon or a melon baller. Rub a little olive oil, salt and pepper into the now empty log and roast it in a 450 degree oven until tender. You could then spoon the lamb mixture into it and eat it morrocan style.
thanks! i'lll let you know how it goes. Actually I think i might have penne possibly - i'll have to look!
I always keep wine around to cook with. Just get one of those big jugs of white and of red and forget you have it. They have mellow flavor so they're perfect for cooking with.
I hope it tastes ok!
yeah i drank all of my wine this morning. haha. kidding.
well i am done! so far - i like it. I like the taste of the lamb, it doesn't really taste too much different from ground beef to me.. maybe a tad bit different... a little bit of a hint of liver or something. Anyway, I like liver so this is okay.
Chris is almost home, i can't wait for him to test it haha
it was a success!
Yea! I'm so glad!
yeah i think Chris actually used the word "awesome" ... haha. :)
Great! Did you end up serving it over penne or doing the zucchini stick thing?
i actually just served it with angel hair - and it was almost like a meat sauce because i cut the patties into like 8 pieces each. So that worked out.
Well good, I'm glad you liked it!
here!
i love lamb ... soo good
I'm going to make some lamb stew for our lunches this week tonight.
1. Cut lamb into 1-inch cubes, trim most of the fat.
2. Cut 5 carrots into bite sized pieces, 4 celery stalks into 1/4 inch pieces and quarter 2 yellow onions. Cut about 5 russet potatoes into bite-sized peices (peel if desired). Cut 5 slices of bacon into 1/2 inch pieces.
3. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large stock pot on medium high heat. Add the bacon and brown, stirring until it's browned. Remove bacon from pot, leaving oil inside.
4. Coat lamb cubes in flour, shaking off all excess. Brown lamb cubes in pot. Once all are browned, remove and set aside.
5. Add 1tbsp of oil and one tbsp of butter to pot, set to medium high heat. Add carrots, celery and onions and cook until onions are translucent. Add lamb cubes back and cover with about 3 large cans of crushed tomatoes. Add fresh dill, broken, chopped, whatever you prefer. Add the potatoes.
6. Bring the mixture up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, or until lamb and potatoes are tender. Add the bacon back in at the end, if desired.
7. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of creme de cassis, if available.
The stew came out wonderfully. I finished it at about 12:30 last night. ;)
My co-worker forgot her lunch today, and was upset because she didn't really have enough money to buy something, so I offered to bring her a bowl of the stew from home. She said she loved it. :) :) :) I hope it's true, because people liking my food means psychological acceptance.
this sounds really good, and not too difficult.
I had to buy a leg of lamb and cut the meat off it, rather than buying it cubed, like you can in more ethnic areas. So, to cube it, cut all the veggies and do the rest of the prep work was actually like an hour active time. Then it cooks for about an hour. It's not difficult, it's just time consuming. It's the perfect dish for having a sous chef.
sous chef? what does that mean? sous means under, (latin always comes in handy, haha) but i dont understand your usage.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=sous-chef
A sous chef usually does all the chopping, peeling, etc.
oh oh, gotcha. yea, that's true. i envy that about cooking show hosts, they just get to do the actual cooking. i dont mind the peeling/chopping part, it's the cleanup/putting away that i dont like.
everytime i see the title i think of that scene in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days when Matthew McC cooks Kate hudson dinner and it's lamb and Kate starts pretending to cry adn starts singing "mary had a little lamb". LOL
Matthew McC is HOTT
I don't think I have ever eaten Lamb. I don't know. Possibly. But i just see a cute little lamb in my head and I don't know if i could eat it. I mean I know veal is baby cows but ... it's not called "baby cow meat" sooo.... it doesn't bother me. Chicken doesn't bother me. Really no other meat bothers me, but lamb... aww
apparently i am going to eat a baby
lol the title of this scared me...
We bought a grill last night.
The first thing I made? Lamb.
I cubed a leg of lamb and put it in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and torn basil. I halved cherry tomatoes and quartered a red onion and put them in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. I skewered the ingredients and grilled them for about 5 minutes on each side.
Incredible.
Lamb is awesome. I don't know why my mom (half-Greek) always insists on using ground beef instead of lamb in her pastitso. It so great with lamb.
Oh, and gyros are one of the greatest foods ever invented.
You're greek?! greek people are my favorite...right after italians. haha (the culture..) my mom makes the most amazing roast leg of lamb...ever! i think it is my favorite meal.
what she does is put slits all over the lamb and in each slit stuff it w/ a garlic clove, a chunk of parmigiano cheese & a sprig of parsley. and it is rubbed all over w/ olive oil & salt. it comes out so amazing. the roasted garlic tastes SO good,
Well, I'm half Greek and half Italian... the best gene pool ever.
Stuffed with garlic - a very Italian way to make lamb. Ugggh, I'm drooling.
we might be part greek, too. my fathers grandparents spoke greek and italian. they were from sicily. we don't really know what the deal was.