I have some great ground lamb, now what?

[baltoellen]

I have less than a pound of local, free range ground lamb. In the past, I've made lamb burgers, but this time would like to make something a bit more adventurous, but not onerous. (And, I'm afraid, very afraid, of cooking with phyllo!)

So, what would you suggest?

Many thanks!

[crosby_p]

Chopped onion, green lentils, ground lamb, s-p, chicken broth, 20-cloves of peeled garlic, maybe a bit of diced tomato, in the crockpot...the garlic gets soft and sweet and doesn't overwhelm the lamb!

[E.Kolliopoulos]

Stuffed grape leaves in egg & lemon sauce:

1 jar grape leaves, rinsed well, stems trimmed
1onion finely chopped
your ground lamb
a good handful of basmati rice
1 bunch fresh mint chopped
to taste fresh coriander chopped
olive oil to drizzle
S & P
2 eggs
2 or 3 tbspns butter

Method:
combine all ingredients except the grape leaves and butter, mix with hands, put teaspoonfuls in grape leaves, fold in sides and roll, place seam side down in a pot lines with lettuce. dot with butter, put an inverted plate over that, fill with water to just cover the leaves, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 40 minutes. Take out plate (I use tongs) make egg and lemon sauce using the cooking liquid left in the pot, pour in sauce and shake the pan till it is thickened (no need to stir). Etsi, Dolmathaki me Avgo-lemono!

[yamalam]

Has anyone ever swapped out kale or chard for the grape leaves? I've tried a similar recipe with cabbage, and thought it was too cabbage-y, but I wonder about another green.

[Cheffrank]

Check this out. I know that Rachael Ray is not terribly well respected on this board but this recipe works:

Handful cilantro leaves
Handful mint leaves
Handful basil leaves
1 cup Greek style plain yogurt
1 tablespoon cumin, a palm full
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grill seasoning blend, 1 1/3 palm fulls (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning)
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or ground lamb
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
4 pita pockets
1 cup mango chutney
8 leaves tender lettuce
Spiced exotic chips recommended: Taro root chips)

Place the herbs in a food processor and pulse grind them into a fine chop. In a bowl combine the herbs, yogurt, cumin and grill seasoning. Add the meat and mix to combine.. Form into 4 large, very thin patties. Wash up and preheat a large nonstick skillet with a couple tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook patties 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Heat a small second skillet over high heat and blister the pitas on each side. Cut tops off the bread and fill pita pockets with patties, lettuce and chutney

[scunge]

Mix with za'atar .cumin or dill some cinnamon form patties or cigars and broil.Serve with a lemony green veg olives and chopped salad and pita,or you can mix with cooked legumes lentils or fave beans or chickpeas and serve with couscous,rice etc

[MB fka MB]

This is recipe from Claudia Roden's book of middle eastern cooking:
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/prin...

I just made them. Not difficult but a little time-intensive.

you could also make kibbeh baked in a pan rather than shaped (to make it easier)

[GrillNextDoor]

Look for Wolfgang Puck's lentil soup with lamb meatballs. My family's favorite!!!

[Candy]

It is cold and snowy here, shepherd's pie seems awfully tempting to me and it smells so good while it is cooking and then the mashed potato crust buttery and lightly browned is so yummy. I think I have inspired myself. I'll get that lamb out of the freezer for tonight.

PS Don't forget it is Spring Ahead tonight!

[baltoellen]

Thanks for these, and my apologies for not first searching this board for answers. (I get so miffed when people don't do research before asking questions on our local board, and here I am, being a terrible offender. Mea culpa!)

[MMRuth]

Not to worry - just happened to remember it as a recent thread - wasn't meant as a reproach (grin).

[Cheflambo]

Nigella Lawson cooks a lot with lamb. If you visit her website (www.nigella.com) and check the "recipes" section you'll probably find a good recipe for lamb meatballs or something else equally delicious.

[srr]

I love little lamb meatballs in a soup with lots of chickpeas. You could just do it in a broth with veggies. I also make a chickpea puree soup with minted lamb meatballs that is really good, if I must say so.

[luckyfatima]

If you go south asian you could do koftay, I posted a recipe on CH recipes but it is onerous, I suppose...perhaps you could google and find and easier recipe. Another option that would be just as good is qeema...also google spelled queema, keema...it is seasoned ground meat, you can eat it with basmati rice or flat bread, serve with yoghurt and Indian pickles (achaar) on the side. There are recipes posted for that, too on in the boards, I think I did post one also...enjoy your lamb

[MMRuth]

There were a lot of recs here - including a link to a lamb meatball recipe that I love:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/495235

[baltoellen]

Well, this recipe turned out to be the winner! Since the lamb was pretty good stuff, I wanted the most minimal preparation. And, the recipe IS a winner, however, if I were to make it again (and I'm sure I would) I would probably throw some almonds into the meatballs as well as in the sauce. I also did get ginger, and that worked so well, that I can't imagine making them without it. I'll play with this a bit more.....but thanks MMRuth and everyone else.

[MMRuth]

Glad you liked it - it's from Penelope Casa's Delicioso, which I love, though I've not cooked from it in ages. Great Spanish recipes. And I can see almonds in the meatballs being a delicious addition.

[ginnyhw]

Lamb and curry powder are naturals together. I don't have any recipes as I've been married to a lamb hater for 30 years but my ex and I were big fans of curried lamb dishes.

[Val]

If you also love eggplant, I would suggest Moussaka.

[baltoellen]

I do also love eggplant, but was afraid that moussaka might fit into that category of "onerous!" Thanks, though, and the curry idea is also very good!

[aussiewonder]

BaltoEllen, I wonder if you and I hit the same 'sale', I had lots of ground lamb last weekend and wasn't sure what to make. I ended up doing a very basic but super tasty moussaka. I had extra filling that I mixed w/ rice and stuffed into a green pepper for lunch later in the week.

Here's what I did, I took the recipe for the filling from 'Lamb, Raisin, PineNut and Mint Pies' and layered it into a casserole dish on top of grilled (actually, i threw them under the broiler for 5mins) eggplant that had been seasoned w/ OO, S&P, garlic. Then another layer of eggplant and topped it off w/ a basic white cheese sauce and baked it in the oven to heat it thru. Very easy and very tasty.

I posted a similar request last weekend, heres the link:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/495235
Procrastibaker (first response) had the link for the pie filling. If you scroll to the end you'll see my changes to the recipe - very basic and more based upon what I had on hand.
There were several good rec's on this board, so hope you have some luck!

[baltoellen]

There are so many good recipes that it's now hard to choose.

Mmmm....I think it's between yours and those amazing sounding meatballs from your thread.

(BTW, the lamb's from Springfield Farms. But, I'm be looking for ground lamb sales from sources a bit closer to home, so I can try many of these great recipes.....)