your favourite lamb recipe

[PlayaMama]

background: i've been a veg for 15 years and am trying to incorporate meat into our diet for my ds, mate, and my dad who lives with us. i have NO experience cooking meat and i'm tired of either over-cooking or serving raw the grass-fed buffalo from the store

my mom's family is very tf oriented and she raises sheep on a hillside in suburbia. they are grass-fed (supplemented with alfalfa and grain in the winter) and very low if any medications. she recently butchered out several lambs and has given us one. yay!

except i have NO IDEA how to cook any part of this! i can handle tossing bones in the crock pot with carrots, celery and onions, but i'm trying to figure out how to cook the meatier parts.

so, what is your favourite way to eat lamb?

tia!

[spughy]

MMmmmm lamb.

Do you have any duqqa spice hanging around, perchance? If you mix that with some salt, minced garlic, an egg, and some ground lamb, smoosh it onto skewers and then broil or grill them, you'll be happy.

You will probably also enjoy lamb stew - coat chunks of lamb in a little seasoned flour (or not, if you have wheat issues) and brown them, them remove from the pot and if necessary add more oil/fat and fry some onions, carrots & celery. Add the meat back in, some barley or cubed potatoes if you like, and then pour in about a cup of red wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Once the wine has cooked down a bit, add some chicken stock or water (not covering the meat unless you added a lot of barley, then just covering it.) Add salt to taste. Cover the pot, and cook in a low oven (275F) for an hour and a half or longer.

[PlayaMama]

boy, i thought i was pretty well-versed in spices but i've never heard of duqqa, it sounds middle eastern? lamb stew sounds great, is there any certain part of the lamb that is best for it? though nothing will be labeled so it'll probably be by sight. i feel so out of my element

[cristeen]

The first thing to do is familiarize yourself with what you have. Some cuts do better with slow wet cooking (braises, stews, curries, etc.) and some do well with higher heat (roasting, frying, etc.). With a young lamb, you're not liable to have any really tough cuts, regardless.

If you're having trouble with getting cuts of meat cooked thoroughly enough, I highly recommend a meat thermometer. It's taken me years with a meat thermometer to be able to skip it most of the time (I still use it for thick cuts I want rare and not raw though).

Lamb goes beautifully with garlic, rosemary and olive oil... little salt and pepper. It also goes nicely with Mediterranean flavors - oregano, pomegranate molasses, feta, pine nuts, etc.

I've marinated roasts in orange juice/pomegranate molasses and then BBQ'd them to medium rare... sliced thin across the grain. Marinated in a paste of garlic/rosemary/olive oil. Or a basic pesto even, then oven roasted or BBQ'd to medium rare.

For smaller pieces, lamb goes beautifully in curry, pilaf, stir frys. Marinate it in whatever you like for shish kebabs.

For ground, I love stuffed eggplant with feta and pine nuts. Pumpkin moussaka, meatballs, burgers, cutlets, etc. Basically you can use it in any recipe that calls for ground beef.

[PlayaMama]

whoa, that was awesome!! thanks so much

[425lisamarie]

My dad and I are the only ones who like lamb. So I usually do it simple and in the crockpot. I use chicken broth and it mellows the flavour if you're not familiar with eating lamb.

I usually use a couple pounds of cubed lamb, chickpeas, a head of cauliflower, carrots, peas at the end, and cubed sweet potatoes

Saute an onion and LOTS of garlic in oil, then add your spices, garam masala, or mix your own curry blend...mine is heavy on the cumin, with corriander and ginger. Dump that in the crock pot along with some chicken broth, your meat, or you can fry that a minute first too to brown. Add the chopped cauliflower and carrots, chickpeas (cooked or canned ) potatoes and a can of coconut milk. You could just do it in an oven too and it wouldn't take as long. Stir in peas if you want at the end.


i also make gyros all the time from ground meat on skewers. DH doesn't know it's even lamb, and he *says* he doesn't like lamb at all.

[Holiztic]

If you try lamb stew (my favorite!!) try cubed sweet potato in stead of white, and add herbs de provence (some or all). Delicious!!!

[griffin2004]

ground lamb mixed with rice and etc. used to fill grape leaves for dolmas; scrummy yummy; I use the Joy of Cooking recipe