One of my favourite meats is Lamb. I like the smell and the taste. I roast it, boil it, stew it and also tried making Jamie Oliver cottage pie from it as well, which was fantastic.
What do you cook from lamb and what are your favourites?
D
Hi Dmitri,
Favourite ways with lamb:
* armenian lamb - casseroled, cubes flavoured with cumin and allspice (Jamaica pepper) tomatoes and served with rice mixed with currants and toasted almonds;
* curried - check out
www.mamtaskitchen.com for recipes;
* lamb cutlet en cuirasse - lamb cutlets, browned VERY QUICKLY, cooled and wrapped in puff pastry with a mushroom duxelles, glazed and baked and served with a red wine, redcurrant reduction;
* souvlakia - marinaded cubes of lamb (OO, lemon zest, touch of lemon juice, marjoram/oregano) and griddled or BBQ`d;
* stuffed boned rolled breast of lamb using either a spinach based stuffing or a breadcrumb and apricot + almond stuffing;
* slow roast leg of lamb or leg of lamb boulangere - check out JO recipes;
* lamb burgers - seasoned with nutmeg and mint or
* keftedes -wrapped on souvlakia skewers or well soaked bamboo sticks and griddled. You could add some cheese - grated or finely diced like feta, gruyere etc.;
* minced lamb, sautéed onions, garlic, tomatoes, oregano/marjoram used to stuff aubergines. Make a rich sauce like a ragu for lasagne. Bake the aubergines. Cut in half, lenghtways, carefully remove the flesh of the aubergine to give "shells" and chop, add to the minced lamb and use to stuff the shells. Top with breadcrumbs and drizzle with oil and bake in a hot oven. If making in advance place a little tomato sauce (sautéed onion, garlic, tomatoes) on the base of the pan to stop the aubergines from burning on the base;
* use the same idea as above but slice aubergines lengthways and fry/griddle. Use the lamb mix to spread on the slices, roll up, place in a greased ovenproof dish, add tomato sauce and bake -could top with cheese before baking;
* Moussaka - the classic minced lamb dish!
Can you tell that lamb is one of my favourite meats!
By the way:
* Cottage pie = minced beef
* Shepherd`s pie = minced lamb
Traditionally, a Shepherd`s pie would be made using the roast left overs - trimmed off when cold and cut very, very finely. You can make it with raw uncooked minced lamb. Additional flavouring ingredients to bring out the flavour of the lamb would be:
* a dash or Worcestershire sauce;
* a pounded fillet of anchovy - yes, it does work as, traditionally, piercing a roasting joint of lamb and putting a piece or garlic, anchovy and rosemary makes a wonderfull roast leg etc.,
* touch of anchovy essence;
* finely diced mushrooms.
Hope this helps,
Archiduc