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Tag Archives: Lamb
Lightly seasoned lamb shanks are roasted until the meat falls off the bone and served with baby potatoes and favas beans in a minty creme fraiche sauce. Pure comfort food.
We were talking about these outrageous Merquez Lamb Shanks during lunch the other day as we wandered into one of my favorite magazine stores downtown and there on the counter was the UK Food and Travel magazine with it’s glossy cover tempting our taste-buds. Mouths watering all over the floor we picked up the magazine and started flipping through it and the first dish that caught our eyes was this Lamb Shank dish with favas. You know how we love favas ….. so, we knew we would be dining on this very soon!
This is a very easy dish to make. Roasted lamb shanks are seasoned with onions, fava beans, fresh herbs and finished with a minty creme fraiche sauce. It is definitely more of a spring time dish; but, will work all season, as long as you can find fresh favas!
Recipe: Lamb Shanks with Fava Beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 lamb shanks, meaty ones
2 red onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 sprig of parsley and thyme
1 bay leaf
400 ml white wine, used a French White Bordeaux
400g new potatoes
400g shelled fava beans, skinned
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
3 tablespoons creme fraiche
Preheat over to 350. Lightly oil a roasting pan, add the lamb shanks and season with salt and pepper, then place in the oven to roast for 20 minutes. Add the onions, garlic and herbs and roast for another 20 minutes. Add the white wine and new potatoes, mix well with the juices and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.
Plunge the fava beans into a pan of boiling water for 4 minutes, then drain and peel off the skins. Add the prepared beans to the lamb and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
When the lamb is cooked, remove from the roasting pan and keep warm. Place the pan directly on the stove top and bring the juices to a simmer. Stir in the mint and the creme fraiche. Serve. Eat.
In Greece they make Souvlaki by marinating chunks of meat, usually pork or lamb, in olive oil, lemon juice and oregano, then they grill it over an open fire. This dish is easy to make at home and we show you how you can make it with a grill pan if you do not have access to a BBQ or open fire.
We love Greek Food but never seem to eat it that often. Over dinner tonight we reminisced about how much we really enjoy it and that we only seem to eat it when we are in Hawaii or Paris – some of favorite Greek restaurants are there.
This recipe is fantastic as it brings Greece into your dining room, in under an hour. I used fresh Meyer Lemons and oregano for the marinade; it was incredibly aromatic while sitting out on the counter as well as when cooking. It filled our tiny kitchen with fresh scents of citrus and grilled meat just as it is on the streets of Greece … okay, we have not been to Greece, but we have a feeling this is what it would smell like, as it does in one of our favorite neighborhoods in Paris.
Pork Souvlaki is about to become our favorite summertime grilled meals, I cannot wait to try it with lamb. You will love it was well!
Recipe: Pork Souvlaki with Tzatziki
* adapted from Food & Wine
1 1/4 pounds trimmed pork shoulder, cut into 3-by- 1/2-inch strips or you can use lamb
1 large onion, cut through the root end into 1/2-inch wedges
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 meyer lemons squezzed, reserve the juice
1/8 cup chopped fresh oregano
2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
7 oz Greek-style whole-milk yogurt
1/2 European cucumber, seeded and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
Warm pita, for serving
n a medium bowl, toss the pork strips and onion wedges with the olive oil, lemon juice, chopped oregano and garlic paste. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and let stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the yogurt, cucumber, and the mint. Season the tzatziki with salt and pepper.
Heat a large cast-iron griddle or grill pan until very hot. Add the pork and onion wedges along with any marinade and cook over high heat, turning once or twice, until the pork and onion are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pork and onion to plates and serve with the tzatziki, and pita.
I woke up Saturday morning around 3 am and I had Irish Stew on my mind. Not sure why I had anything Irish on my mind, as we don’t even do the traditional St. Paddy’s Day celebrations any longer (we are too old), but the idea was there and it lingered for rest of the night. I have not made Irish Stew in years. I vaguely remember one of my first cookbooks, when I was about 16, it had a recipe for Irish Stew and I use to make it. Positive it did not include the can of beer, though. I searched around quickly before hitting the market on Saturday and never came up with a recipe that really interested me so I decided I would wing it ….
I did a little market research, so to say, and found out that Irish Stew is usually made with the cheapest, most readily available ingredients. The Irish mostly used sheep and root vegetables. Irish stew, also known as Ballymaloe or Stobhach gaelach is normally made with lamb or mutton, potatoes, onion and parsley. Other root vegetables have also been added such as turnips, parsnips or carrots. As well barley is sometimes added.
Since we had lamb recently I decided to go with beef. I purchased some beautiful grass fed beef and cubed it into bite size pieces. I then browned the beef and seasoned it with garlic, sea salt and pepper. After a good browning I added a can of Murphys Stout (it was on sale and I got 4 BIG cans), some of the beef stock that I had left over, some other good seasonings and then I let it do it’s thing on a very low heat for about 6 hours. After it cooled off, I put it in the fridge and forgot about it until tonight.
After skimming off the fat (there was very little), I gently warmed the beef stock mixture. While it was heating up I sauteed some onion, carrots and yukon potatoes. We do not like mushy veggies so this is the reasoning behind not adding them sooner in the process. The stew came out incredible. The beef was so moist and really retained all of the flavorings during the long gentle cooking process. The veggies were perfect, not to hard and not to soft. I served this stew with cheddar biscuits, a Mark Bittman recipe, which were fantastic and more icy cold Murphy’s Stout.
Recipe: Irish Beef Stew
* serves 4
- 1 lb beef stew meat, grass fed preferably
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- sea salt
- cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 bay leave
- 1 can of Murphy’s Stout or Guinness
- 5 cups of beef stock – homemade preferably
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion large dice
- 3 carrots, roughly cut
- 5 yukon potatoes, quartered
- parsley, handful, minced
Melt butter in the olive oil. Brown the beef. Add the garlic, sea salt and cracked pepper and cook a couple more minutes just to blend the ingredients. Add the tomato paste, stout and stock, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook for 5 – 6 hours. Remove from heat, let cool and refrigerate over night.
Skim the fat off the top and gently reheat. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes, add the carrots and potatoes and cook until the onion is soft. Add the veggies to the broth/meat mixture and cook on a very low heat for about one and a half hours. I did thicken the stew with a little cornstarch before serving, only do this if you want a thicker consistency. Before serving stir in parsley. Serve. Eat.
Laudalino has been asking for Shepherd’s Pie for a couple weeks now. I have never made Shepard’s Pie. I have not had it in years, the last time was probably when I was a small child. I do remember the last and possibly the only one I have ever eaten, it was like a stew with potatoes on top.
I started researching Shepard’s Pie when he mentioned eating it. Most of the recipes that came up were lamb or beef based and they all had a combination of potatoes, carrots and peas in them. For some reason I was not in the mood for this typical pie so I kept searching.
Then I opened my March issue of Bon Appetit (I don’t read them until the month they are intended for) and found few different comfort pies and one of them was Shepherd’s Pie. I liked this recipe as soon as I saw the title, “Lamb and Eggplant”. I love lamb and we both love eggplant. Once I read the recipe ingredients over and saw that it had a Greek influence, I knew I found a winner!
This is a fantastic recipe. Lots of texture, flavor and pure comfort. I did substituted dried herbs with fresh. As well I had not read the recipe before hand so I skimped on an hour of the stove top cooking time as we did not want to eat at 10pm. It worked out fine. The lamb was ultra tender and it was still very good. I highly recommend this recipe, just allow yourself about 5 hours total time to make it. It is a good rainy day Sunday afternoon meal to prepare.
Recipe
*adapted from Bon Appetit – made 4 servings
- 1 pound eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes
- Coarse kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons (or more) extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 pound well-trimmed boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- All purpose flour
- 1 cups chopped onions
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 1/2 cups beef stock (I used leftovers)
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
topping
- 1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cups (packed) coarsely grated kasseri cheese
Preparation
filling
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Scatter eggplant on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt; let stand 1 hour, tossing occasionally. Rinse eggplant and pat very dry.
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Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add eggplant and sauté until tender, about 12 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl.
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Sprinkle lamb generously with coarse salt and pepper, then dust with flour to coat. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add half of lamb. Sauté until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer lamb to large bowl. Repeat with 2 tablespoons oil and remaining lamb.
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Add 1 additional tablespoon oil to same pot, if needed. Add onions. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until very tender, about 10 minutes (bottom of pot will be very dark). Add wine to pot. Increase heat and boil until wine evaporates, scraping up browned bits, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, broth, garlic, and oregano and bring to boil. Add lamb with any accumulated juices. Cover; reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour. Stir in eggplant. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
topping
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Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 14 minutes.
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Meanwhile, melt butter with oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic. Sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add milk and bring to simmer.
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Drain potatoes. Return to pot. Stir over medium heat until excess moisture evaporates. Add milk mixture and mash potatoes until just smooth. Stir in cheese. Season with coarse salt and pepper.
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Drop potatoes over filling by heaping tablespoonfuls, covering completely.
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Bake pie until filling is heated through and topping is golden, about 45 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh oregano.
- Eat.
I grew up eating lamb very often, by the time I flew from the nest at the tender age of 18, I did not like lamb. Four years later I found myself in the Bay Area and submerged myself into becoming a foodie. I remember the first time I had lamb again, it was roasted with loads of garlic and rosemary, that taste still lingers in my mind. We are pretty much meat eaters around here and will eat just about anything; I more so then Lenny. WAIT! There’s more »
I love to make a “nice” dinner on Sunday night. Ending one week and moving into another on a good note so to say. I stumbled upon this recipe for Merguez Spiced Lamb Shanks with Chickpeas in the November issue of Food and Wine and just knew we had to make it for the following reasons: I love lamb, Lenny loves chickpeas and we both love spice. The dish said to slow cook in the oven for an hour and a half, I kept it in there for 2 and a half hour, which was perfect as it came out very moist. The scent of the dish was really intoxicating, the way a Moroccan market must smell, with the addition of cumin, fennel, coriander, paprika, allspice, cayenne and a bit of sweetness. The lamb came out very moist and the pieces of meat fell off the bones with a mildly intense flavor. We served it with a whole wheat couscous, some roasted squash and a very nice bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
WAIT! There’s more »
Plums, Pizza & Pinot Noir and some Lamb (yes, I know, more meat); but, we did cut down portions! We have been waiting to open up this bottle of 2005 Pinot Noir, that our friend I. and company (Dept. C) are making but we needed the right dish.
Recently, there was an article in the SF Chronicle on Pinot Noir and what to serve … there it was Lamb, Plum & Smoked Mozzarella Pizza , so we whipped up a mini, tossed together a simple mixed green salad with radishes (just like grandma use to make) and popped open the Dept. C. Point Noir – the meal was great, the pizza was interesting (I will make again but add more spices to it) and the Pinot was smooth and definitely complimented the plums and the gamey taste of the lamb. As well, this was the last meal for our Eat Local Challenge – everything was local this time!!!
Finally grilled those Lamb Sausages – fantastic! Served with some grilled eggplant which was drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with grey sea salt & fresh ground pepper. Roasted a mixture of yellow, orange & red beets with thyme & made a simple salad drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, feta and more grey sea salt. Dessert …. simple summer figs!
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