Sprout
Sous Chef
I found myself with a large amount of lamb fat after I cooked up some lamb ribs last night (first time trying them and they were amazing!). I trimmed most of the fat off after cooking the ribs, threw it in a frying pan and rendered out most of the fat the lazy way (someone please correct me if it's not called rendering when it's done this way). I read a suggestion on an old thread on here that I thought sounded great. It said to save the lamb fat and add it to ground beef and use it as a cheaper alternative in recipes that call for ground lamb.
I decided to make lamb fat and beef meatballs over spaghetti squash in a cheesy balsamic reduction for dinner tonight. I added a generous amount of melted lamb fat, a crumbed piece of bread, one egg, half a finely chopped small onion, garlic powder (I ran out of fresh last night), rosemary, and salt to a lb of ground beef. I decided to put a new spin on a pasta dish I've made several times before. It originally calls for onion, garlic, butter, balsamic, basil, and romano or parmesan cheese. I was fresh out of romano and wanted to tailor the flavors a bit more to the meatballs, so I used onion, garlic, lamb fat, balsamic, and queso fresco (don't you judge me, I used what I had.
). I was a touch heavy handed on the balsamic, so as it reduced, I stirred in a bit of honey so it wasn't too sour, as I'm using young balsamic. When the sauce was sufficiently reduced, I tossed in the spaghetti squash and queso.
I was expecting a milder version of a lamb meatball and a tangier, fresher-tasting version of the balsamic pasta I so love. I was a bit surprised at what I got. It tasted like sausage and sour kraut. Ok, so not exactly, but it really reminded me of it. It tasted like sausage and sour kraut's gentler, more sophisticated brother. The earthiness of the lamb mimicked the sage found in some of my favorite sausages. The balsamic added tartness (despite the honey) and the texture of the spaghetti squash was very similar to sour kraut. Fortunately, I happen to really like sausage and sour kraut, the girls will eat almost anything, and DH who enjoys neither sausage nor sour kraut, was at work. I really enjoyed this meal, and it seems my girls did, too, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting!
I decided to make lamb fat and beef meatballs over spaghetti squash in a cheesy balsamic reduction for dinner tonight. I added a generous amount of melted lamb fat, a crumbed piece of bread, one egg, half a finely chopped small onion, garlic powder (I ran out of fresh last night), rosemary, and salt to a lb of ground beef. I decided to put a new spin on a pasta dish I've made several times before. It originally calls for onion, garlic, butter, balsamic, basil, and romano or parmesan cheese. I was fresh out of romano and wanted to tailor the flavors a bit more to the meatballs, so I used onion, garlic, lamb fat, balsamic, and queso fresco (don't you judge me, I used what I had.
). I was a touch heavy handed on the balsamic, so as it reduced, I stirred in a bit of honey so it wasn't too sour, as I'm using young balsamic. When the sauce was sufficiently reduced, I tossed in the spaghetti squash and queso. I was expecting a milder version of a lamb meatball and a tangier, fresher-tasting version of the balsamic pasta I so love. I was a bit surprised at what I got. It tasted like sausage and sour kraut. Ok, so not exactly, but it really reminded me of it. It tasted like sausage and sour kraut's gentler, more sophisticated brother. The earthiness of the lamb mimicked the sage found in some of my favorite sausages. The balsamic added tartness (despite the honey) and the texture of the spaghetti squash was very similar to sour kraut. Fortunately, I happen to really like sausage and sour kraut, the girls will eat almost anything, and DH who enjoys neither sausage nor sour kraut, was at work. I really enjoyed this meal, and it seems my girls did, too, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting!
