Category: Lamb + Veal

I’m not Greek, but I sure do love my lamb. For Greek Easter this year, I was unable to join my friends in Boston for a full-on lamb roast because of new responsibilities at home (read: a new Rottweiler). But I didn’t want to miss the celebration so I biked over to Fairway supermarket, bought a highly-marked up leg of lamb for $34 and roasted it for seven hours while I walked the dog out, ran errands at Home Depot, and gardened the rest of the day.

Ingredients:
1 3 to 4-lb lamb leg
2 red onions, quartered
2 sprigs of rosemary
olive oil
salt, pepper

For the dressing:
a handful of basil leaves
a handful of parsley
a handful of mint leaves
1 tsp stone grain mustard
a jigger of sherry vinegar
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup of olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 315º. Meanwhile, place the lamb in an aluminum-lined roast pan. Using a small sharp knife, make about 12 small but deep slits all throughout the meat and stuff them with garlic and rosemary leaves. Rub the entire lamb with olive oil using your hands and generously roll in salt and pepper.
2. Cover the pan loosely with more foil, lightly tucking the foil around the pan. Roast in the oven for 7 hours, or until the meat is soft and falls off the bone with a gentle prod of a fork.
3. While lamb is cooking, make the dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender while slowly drizzling the olive oil to create a consistency similar to a runny pesto. Season to taste.
4. Gently remove lamb from the oven and let it rest on a chopping block for about 20 minutes. Transfer to a plate to serve with the dressing on the side, or pull the meat apart with your hands and divide among your guests and drizzle the dressing all over.

This recipe came from Sam Sifton in the New York Times. It’s almost the perfect recipe for such an affordable piece of lamb. Even at Whole Foods, 2 racks at about 3 pounds cost $12, probably the least expensive big-ticket item I’ve ever bought there.

As usual, I adjusted the recipe to work for me. I roasted the lamb for 2 hours without checking its internal temperature–the racks were thin enough to gauge by eye if they were cooked. I prodded the meat off the rib bones with a fork. The meat didn’t fall apart but it was quite soft and tasty that I called it done. I left the lamb in the roasting pan with all its juice tented with the foil to let it cool overnight without making it sweat. I only put it back in the fridge when I woke up 7 hours later.

It took another 14 hours before I seared them to serve. I sliced the ribs in half to fit a large frying pan and browned them for about 3 minutes on each side. I skipped the scallion accompaniment from the original recipe and instead served it with a simple mixed greens salad I collected from my garden, but the yogurt sauce was quite good with it.

Ingredients:
For the lamb:
1 head garlic, peeled
2 tbsps salt
1/4 cup olive oil
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
a handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
black pepper
lamb breast, about 3 lbs

For the yogurt sauce:
1 cup thick Greek-style yogurt
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps lemon juice
4 tsps lemon zest
2 tbsps fresh mint, finely chopped
smoked paprika
salt, pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and salt into a paste. Transfer to a bowl with a spatula. Gradually mix in the olive oil. Stir in the herbs and pepper.
2. Fit the lamb into an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan big enough to contain the racks. Smear them thoroughly with the paste, and place ribs-side down in the pan. Cover tightly with foil, and roast for no more than 2.5 hours. Meat should be wobbly but not falling apart. Allow to cool uncovered, then cover again and rest in the refrigerator overnight.
3. The next day, when ready to serve, place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cut the racks in half to make them fit in the pan at least two at a time. Sear until crispy on both sides, approximately 4 to 6 minutes.
4. In the meantime, prepare the yogurt sauce. Whisk 1 tbsp of olive oil into the yogurt. Then the lemon juice and the zest. Stir in mint and salt. Before serving, drizzle sauce with remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with pepper and a pinch of paprika to taste. Whisk one last time before serving in a separate bowl with the lamb.

I had a craving for lamb after spending the last two weekends eating smoked salmon for breakfast. After all that fish, I specifically wanted a leg of lamb slowly simmering in a Dutch oven, falling apart after a few hours. I had just that with this recipe I adapted from a tagine one. I bought a beautiful 2-pound leg of lamb from Whole Foods because unfortunately, Chinatown doesn’t carry much lamb meat, so I always have to spend extra money when I want a good cut of lamb. The Halal stores in Harlem sell a lot of them, but never the good cuts, in my opinion.

This recipe is a testament to how easy it is to make dinner for one that could be reheated for the next couple of days, or for a small group in one seating. Once you master how to brown your meat, sauté the herbs and simmer on your stovetop or braise in the oven for a few hours, you can have whatever you want as a stew; changing up the accompanying ingredients will just make your dish appropriate for the current season.

Ingredients:
3 slices of bacon, chopped
1 lamb leg, about 2 lbs
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt, pepper
2 sticks of cinnamon, crushed
1 tsp coriander, ground
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 package apricot preserves
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 20-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup raisins
a handful parsley, chopped
half a preserved lemon, chopped

1. In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over low heat for about 10 minutes to render the fat. Remove the bacon and set aside. Turn up the heat and brown the leg of lamb, about 5 minutes per side. Remove and let rest on a chopping block.
2. In the same pot with the bacon fat, add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, red pepper flakes, apricot preserves and vinegar, and cook, stirring frequently, until the aroma of the spices is strong. Return the lamb to the pan with the bacon.
3. Add chickpeas and stock, bring just to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently until the lamb is very tender, about 1.5 hours to 2.
4. Add the raisins and continue to cook, uncovered, until they are nicely plumped, about 10 minutes more. Remove from heat, stir in the parsley and lemon. Serve with couscous.

For 2012, I told myself that I would go back to writing. This week, when I returned from my Christmas-birthday and New Year trip in San Francisco, I immediately got back to cooking. It wasn’t just to eat; it was to start updating this Web site as soon as possible to keep up with that resolution.

While in San Francisco, I cooked beef stew for a family of five who was renting a house by the ocean in Montara, a few miles away from downtown and minutes away from beautiful Pacifica. I only had a couple of hours to feed all of us–we were all tired from our respective full day–so I felt like I didn’t deliver as much as I could have if I had more time or if I was cooking in my apartment back in New York City with all the necessary equipment. They ate the food though, and I honestly think they enjoyed it; or they were just really being polite!

To make up for that shortcoming that’s still eating me a little bit inside, I asked an Armenian co-worker for a tried and true winter stew recipe. He emailed me a rough draft of this lamb and orzo recipe and I put my own spin to it when I got home. While I was cooking, I remembered that back in 2006, I had started this mini-project to cook as many traditional family recipes from people I know who hail from different countries.Unfortunately, I stopped updating it in 2008, but now I have another excuse to go back to writing.

I don’t know much about Armenia. Okay, I know nothing besides what I learned from Ararat, the 2002 movie about the genocide. But even my co-worker blames his too-American father for knowing more about Chinese culture (his wife is Chinese) than his own. When he visits his family in Colorado, this dish is one to be served during their stay. They save it for special occasions–perhaps because lamb was more expensive to procure back in the day–but also because it was hearty and brought the family together.

I now wish I can get another chance to cook for that same family in Montara so I may redeem myself, impress a little bit more and bring the members back together again.

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, cut in quarters
1 1/5 lbs of lamb stew cuts
salt
pepper
1 yellow onion, minced
beef broth
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 large green pepper, seeded, chopped
1 15-ounce can of tomato purée
2 cups of orzo pasta

1. In a large heated Dutch oven, add the butter until browned and almost melted. Add and brown the lamb pieces on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Add the onions and mix until translucent. Cover the pot and cook for 1 hour in low heat.
2. Check after the first 25 minutes and add a splash of beef broth so that the meat doesn’t burn or stick to the pot. Gently stir with a wooden spatula. Repeat after the next 25 minutes to avoid burning. Add the tomatoes and the bell pepper after the hour is up and cook for another 30 minutes. Add another splash of broth after the first half of the 30 minutes to avoid burning the vegetables.
3. Boil some water in a separate pot and set aside. Uncover the Dutch oven and add the tomato purée to the lamb and vegetables. Slowly add some hot water splash by splash, or until you have the desired consistency. Your stew must be somewhat saucy, not too thick but not too watery either.
4. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the orzo and cook by constantly stirring everything with your spatula, about 10 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Feel free to add a jig or two of the hot water to make sure your sauce does not thicken too much. Season with more salt as necessary. Turn off the stove and cook the pasta for the last 2 minutes with the remaining heat by stirring some more.

Related post/s:
Cooking the World: Global Gastronomy

Am I bummed that my apartment building won’t let me grill out on my terrace? Of course I am! Recipes like this make me wish I can just step out and put a nice piece of meat on the grill even if it’s just dinner for one. But alas, I don’t get everything I want, so I have to settle for a hot oven inside my home during the summer.

Shank is the portion of meat beneath the knee. There’s a lot of movement in that part of an animal, so its meat is sinewy. Braising is the way to go to soften it, but I didn’t want the oven on too hot too long and decided to roast it instead. I cooked the shank 75 degrees lower than I normally would when roasting and I went past 45 minutes until the meat passed my medium-rare finger test. (Gently press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb. Feel the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. That’s how the meat should feel like when it’s medium rare.)

Shave off the lamb meat from the bone and serve with mint sauce. Store the remaining meat in a container in the fridge–it will keep for a few days to a week. When ready to eat the leftovers, toss with salad greens, some grape tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Ingredients:
1 lamb shank
sprigs of rosemary
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small knob of butter
salt
pepper
oil

1. Preheat your oven to 300º. In the meantime, use a small knife to create small slits around the lamb shank. Stuff the slits, or pockets, with small pieces of butter, rosemary and garlic. Using cooking twine, tie up the shank at 1-inch intervals to hold its shape while roasting.
2. Brush the shank with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Roast in the oven for about 1 hour. Remove to a chopping block and let rest for 20 minutes. Carve to serve.

Related post/s:
Braised lamb shank recipe
This hank shank recipe with sausage is one of my favorites