When I found myself with a cut of lamb known for having an incredibly tender texture (the top round roast–it comes from the upper hind leg), for some reason, steak was on my mind rather than the usual roast. I’d never had lamb steak before, so I thought that this could be a fun change–I’d just give them a quick, buttery pan sear (since its not grilling weather at the moment) and top it off with a simple sauce. Being autumn and all, cranberry seemed like a great thing to focus on sauce-wise–and like pork, lamb with fruit always makes me happy.
The lamb was indeed very tender. The resulting steaks had a crisp, buttery, exterior with a juicy and just-a-little-pink interior (random aside: why aren’t lamb steaks more common?!)–very tasty. The cranberry sauce I made to go with this was very similar in style to one I’ve made for the past few Thanksgivings. Aside from the usual sweet/tart thing you get
Read more about Lamb Steak over Israeli Cous Cous with Cranberry Sherry Mint Sauce »
Posted by mike on December 2nd, 2009 in Fruit, Lamb, Main course, Sauce
I discovered this dish at one of my favorite Greek food blogs and knew I had to try them one day. Until I can pony up the cash for a trip to Greece, cooking more Greek food at home will have to do. The dish is charming, rustic, and man does it hit the spot: lamb meatballs in a sauce of tomato and olives.
I was very tempted to add a little more here and there to pump things up a bit, but resisted the urge and am glad for it. The ingredients make this sound simple in flavor, but it is really to the benefit of the final product–the sharp flavor of cumin cuts through the distinct, delightful lamb flavor, which all just sings in a mellow, but perfectly complementary sauce focused on tomato and olive (lamb and olive is a combo that always nails it for me). The sauce takes on the richness of the olives and a pleasant, meaty
Read more about Soutzoukakia Smyrneika with Olives (Greek Lamb Meatballs) »
Posted by mike on November 28th, 2009 in Beef, Lamb, Main course, Mediterranean, Sauce
My starting point for this dish was simple: I wanted something kind of middle eastern in flavor, and I wanted lamb. Armed with pomegranate, apricot, and a bunch of spices, I figured I would be off to a great start for something that would be different from the usual dinner. I was thrilled with the results as this was a really tasty, full-bodied, seductively spiced stew, but not at all like how I originally envisioned it.
I was disappointed that, despite using 3 cups of pomegranate juice, the pomegranate flavor was nowhere to be found in the final dish. On the other end of the spectrum, I was also a bit dissatisfied with the apricots–they tasted great, but were too sharp and loud flavor-wise relative to the rest of the stew and seemed out of place. On my next attempt, I would try to incorporate a few other changes: add pomegranate molasses to the stew roughly 20 minutes before its finished
Read more about Pomegranate Braised Lamb Shank with Apricots »
Posted by mike on June 22nd, 2009 in Fruit, Lamb, Main course, Middle Eastern
I love roasts–there’s something homey and comforting but classy about a nice roast. Plus, you get a bunch of food with minimal effort! I especially love roasting a leg of lamb–its simple and an opportunity to really appreciate what lamb has to offer as far as texture and flavor. This is one such dish that really lets you appreciate the unique flavor of lamb.
For this version, I made a simple fig, apricot, and mint stuffing, rolling the leg roast tightly around it. Then, after giving the leg a good sear, the roast is basted with pomegranate juice to yield a delicious, tacky glaze. The tartness of the glaze is a great foil to the surprisingly complex, sweet stuffing. Plus, it just looks plain sexy.
The only downer was that the drippings from the roast weren’t suitable for sauce-making (the pomegranate juice takes on a burnt taste).
- ~4.5 lb boned leg of lamb
- salt
- pepper
- ground cardamom
- ground cumin
- high smoke point oil (I used ghee)
- few sprigs of
Read more about Pomegranate Glazed Stuffed Leg of Lamb Roast »
Posted by mike on June 1st, 2009 in Fruit, Lamb, Main course, Middle Eastern
Learning more about Indian food has been one of my goals for this year–something I ushered in by making shahi korma. Shortly after, I had received an email from one of my readers (Rose S. in India), very kindly offering me additional Indian recipes to try. I was ecstatic and jumped at the opportunity. This recipe is one of those: a Kashmiri lamb curry, called Rogan Josh, which is cooked in a fantastic blend of very fragrant spices.
The curry had a great, smooth body with a velvetty mouthfeel and a really great blend of spices. The saffron added a nice little something on top of the other spices while the meat was very tender and rich (on account of the nice amount of ghee used. If you don’t have any ghee in your pantry–get some or make some soon!). The yogurt base to the curry gave a great tang and the lambiness was still distinct, albeit kind of subtle next to all
Read more about Rogan Josh »
Posted by mike on April 22nd, 2009 in Indian, Lamb, Main course, Sauce
My love for lamb is no secret. Aside from being delicious on its own, it also pairs quite nicely with fruit, and if I tend to do anything, it’s to fall back on fruit (what’s your signature? We all have one). In this case, I saw a lamb shank that used blood oranges, and since I’ve been hoarding those, this seemed like a must try. So today, a lamb shank braised in blood orange, dried figs, and a variety of spices.
I had a hard time quite pinning down what corner of the world this dish would represent, but given the strong blend of spices (star anise, cardamom, cloves) mixed with figs, it seemed somewhat middle eastern (you be the judge). Whatever is a suitable origin for this, it was delicious. I love lamb shank because there pretty much isn’t a slow cooked piece of meat that doesn’t feel homey and comforting. On the downside, I always think braised lamb shank kind of loses
Read more about Blood Orange and Fig Braised Lamb Shanks »
Posted by mike on March 23rd, 2009 in Fruit, Lamb, Main course, Middle Eastern, Sauce
