Dutch Oven Lamb

“What do you mean you don’t eat no meat? ….. That’s OK, I’ll make lamb”
— Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Lamb with an Herb Salad

Patience is a quality that I have over time been learning to develop.  Maybe it's my age, yes I am getting older...😉😉...maybe it's the ups and downs of life, but the more I discover about this quality the more I have learned that putting it into practice makes my life  better. 

Think about it... you're stuck at the airport🛩 for 8 hours and want to get home but the weather or something else has made it impossible. 

Option 1 : I could become impatient and get angry😡 at the people working, or be furious😡 inside myself that I have to sit around, tired and exhausted, and wanting to go home. 

Option 2: I sit and have a glass of wine🍷 and some snacks and be thankful that I have time to work if that's what I want to do, or, read a book📚 (me time) or sit around surfing pinterest. My options are limitless.   After all, how often would I take 8 hours and do any of those things for that long and not feel like I had been wasting time.  Never, until now! I have the excuse I can give to my brain.  Hmm...Option 2 is looking pretty darn good.

I am beginning to think getting stuck at the airport isn't so bad. What about you?

 See what I mean,  patience has turned my thoughts around.  

Will I be tired tomorrow at work? Yeah....  But wouldn't I have probably been tired anyway? Yeah, for sure. Just being honest.   I probably would have stayed up late goofing around on Pinterest or reading that mystery novel into the wee hours, right?  You and I both know it's true...😉

The saying that "patience is a virtue" I haven't always understood, but I am starting to "get it".

 I usually relate these little aah haa moments in life to cooking and that's what making this Lamb is all about.  I have spoken to many about the fact that they don't like cooking and I keep hearing "I don't have time."  I get that. No one has the time. In fact those 24 hours in a day go so fast that they seem to vanish before we get started.  

But that's what we all have, right?

 24 hours.

Everyday.

 Patience is what we do with that time.

 It's what we make of it...

 It's the laughter from that hilarious SNL skit that you watched in the morning.

 It's the little hummingbirds that you saw flit around drinking nectar that made you smile.

 It's the lamb you cooked, filling the house with smells of spices of the mediterranean.

Patience my friends builds character, builds strength and makes you some darn good Lamb.

Be Happy. Start Cooking. 

Lamb and Herbs getting ready to carve

Adapted Slightly from Food and Wine

 Lamb INGREDIENTS  

  • 1/2 quart chicken stock

  • 1 cups dry white wine

  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

  • 1/4 cup honey

  • 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries

  • 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds

  • 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

  • 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves

  • 2 tablespoons thyme leaves

  • 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

  • 2 onions, diced

  • 4 garlic cloves sliced

  • 1 jalapeños, seeded and quartered

  • One 2-pound boneless leg of lamb, tied

  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Herb Salad Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup packed parsley leaves chopped (1/2 bunch)

  • 3/4 cup packed cilantro leaves chopped (1/2 bunch)

  • 1/2 cup packed tarragon leaves chopped

  • 1/2 cup snipped chives

  • 1 jalapeño—halved, seeded and chopped

  • 1/2 cup very thinly sliced red onion

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

Lemon Juice for Lamb

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425  degrees F. In a Dutch Oven* the size of your lamb  place chicken stock,wine, lemon juice, honey, allspice, cloves, coriander,paprika, thyme, oregano, and peppercorns. Next add onions,jalapeno and garlic. Season Lamb with Salt and Pepper and place on top of onions etc fattier side facing up. Making sure the liquid does not completely cover the lamb. If it does remove some liquid. You want to have about 2 inches not covered. More is okay as long as pot is not completely dry.

Braising Preparation for Lamb

Step 2

Braise* the lamb uncovered for 45 minutes until it starts to brown on top. After browning drop oven temperature to 325 degrees F and put a lid on the dutch oven and continue braising about 2 more hours until lamb meat starts to pull apart easily, if you stick a fork in it and tug a little. Not much tugging should be needed that will help you know it is done.  You can check it after an hour to see how tough the meat is at that time so you know what falling apart means.  Also make sure that the liquid is not completely gone from the pot.  If so add more broth and wine if you have it.Once braised remove from oven and allow to cool on a cutting board for 10 minutes before slicing.

Lamb and Herbs

Step 3

While letting the meat rest you can strain out the large pieces of the braising liquid and put the liquid back in the pot and taste.  Add salt and pepper to your taste and slowly cook the liquid until reduced about 10 minutes to a thicker sauce consistency. It will not be thick like gravy more like an au jus with lots of flavor.  If you don't have much liquid don't cook it all down to nothing just briefly heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 4

Make herb salad to go on top of meat. Mix chopped parsley, cilantro, chives,tarragon and jalapeno.  Cover onions with Lemon juice and leave for a few minutes to decrease the bite in the red onions.  Then add olive oil and mix in a jar and shake.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour dressing over salad and allow to rest for about 10 minutes for flavors to blend.

Step 5

Slice lamb and serve with herb salad on top and some store-bought or homemade tzatziki. You can also serve lamb over rice or couscous or with Delicious Pita Bread!

 

Tips

  • *Braising Definition: to cook slowly in fat and little moisture in a closed pot- A WEEKEND ESSENTIAL WAY TO COOK!

  • *Dutch Ovens are great because you can use them on the stovetop and then place them in the oven and they keep the heat! A 5 1/2 quart is a good size for family of 4 or for two people and then leftovers.

  • Any dry white wine will do for the lamb braising sauce. Even better if you like the taste so you can have some with the lamb later.

leftover mashed potatoes?

“The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found”
— Calvin Trillin

Lamb and Lenti Shepherd's Pie

To be perfectly honest I have always had an upturned nose 👃 to Leftover's.  Maybe because it always made me think of the spaghetti sauce in the fridge that was turning green that often just had a bit of scraping done before it was served again.  Or maybe it's because pizza that most people love cold and leftover always has a rubber in the mouth feel for my palate. 👅  And then their is always the "You're just a snob"  😏because the rest of the world loves all things on day two.  

It is an unsettling thing being the only person at a dinner table who has no interest in taking that super yummy plate of food home but knowing in my heart of hearts I just don't want to look at it the next day.  Can you imagine if I ever went to this New York Restaurant?  I would be the only person saying, Thanks but I will skip the  le gourmet doggie bag.  Yikes.  Who came up with the term doggie bag anyway?  It screams at me "this is food for my dog or for me?"  So when presented with...

 Cold...

Gelatinized...

Gray matter...

it doesn't appeal.  I have even known myself to take something home from someone's home because of, yep you got it, peer pressure.  Knowing in my heart of hearts that I won't eat it, touch it, open it, or go near it until I have that weekly let's make sure the refrigerator is clean day.  

Therefore, if you, like me  know full well that the cold lumpy white glob of mashed potatoes is gonna hit the trash in a week this post is for you.  I am helping you face the fear, confront the elephant, take on the tiger...okay, I have run out of metaphors.

As much as I hate leftovers, I hate wasting food as well.  Hungry people around the world always need to be fed so throwing out healthy food tugs on my heart as it should no doubt.  Overcoming the leftover battle as become the Great War in our house.  Except when I have company who love taking leftovers home...I usually push that one first. 😉  

The overwhelming urge to eat "new food" has made my strategy for preparation begin to change.  I don't come from a culinary background of making paté so this new resolve to "use up all the food" as had me experimenting in the kitchen.

Admittedly a friend of mine who is vegetarian made something similar to this Shepherd's Pie and didn't of course use meat so I went from memory on what I remembered and added my favorite meat lamb.  Beef can be substituted but if you have access to ground lamb it's a favorite in our house.

 So here goes:  Leftovers made Lovely!  

And if you make it the mashed potatoes from scratch and don't use leftovers don't worry, your secret is safe with me. 😉

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

Ingredients for Shepherd's Pie

Mashed Potatoes:

  • 1 pound Russet potatoes peeled and chopped (if you are not using leftover mashed potatoes)

  • 3 oz Butter cubed

  • 1 oz Cream, Half and Half or Buttermilk

  • salt and pepper to taste

 Lentils:

  • 1 cup dried lentils (soak in water for at least 30 min)

  • 2 cups water

  • 1/2 onion

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1 tsp olive oil

Lamb or Beef:

  • 1 pound ground lamb or beef

  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1 Tbsp water

  • 1 red bell pepper diced and seeds removed

  • 1 yellow or white onion diced

  • 1 carrot peeled and diced

  • 2 cloves garlic minced

  • 1 Tbsp ground cumin

  • 2 tsp ground coriander

  • 3 Tbsp fresh chopped mint

  • 3 Tbsp fresh chopped flat leaf parsley

  • 3 Tbsp fresh chopped dill

How to make Mashed Potatoes instructions (Unless using leftovers) :

Step 1

Rinse potatoes under cold running water agitating in a pan and draining until water runs clear and is not cloudy. This helps decrease any extra starch which will make them gummy. Don't skip this step!

Step 2

Cover potatoes with cold water in a pot and bring to a simmer.  Cook until tender with a fork, usually about 10 minutes.

Step 3

Have butter chopped up into cubes and cream at room temp.  Drain potatoes. Using a potato ricer push potatoes through ricer and place back in warm pot. Add butter and cream to potatoes and stir just until incorporated.  Add Salt and White Pepper if you have it to taste.  Set aside.

How to Make Lentils:

Step 1:

After soaking lentil, place in pot with 2 cups of water or chicken broth, 1 bay leaf and half of an onion and 1 tsp of olive oil.  Bring to a boil then, simmer lentils for 15 minutes or until tender but not falling apart.  

Step 2:

Remove  lentils from stovetop to stop cooking.

How to Make Lamb:

Step 1:

While lentils are cooking, add 1/4 tsp of baking soda and 1 Tbsp water to pound of lamb or beef and blend with your hand and let sit in a separate bowl. Preheat broiler  oven to High.

Step 2:

Using a large saute pan heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and then saute chopped onions, carrots for five minutes or until translucent.  Make sure to salt vegetables with a pinch of kosher salt.  Next add garlic and saute for about 30 sec to 1 minute until smell is released but don't burn the garlic. Add lamb and break up lamb into small pieces in the pan.  While cooking add cumin and coriander.  Cook lamb until just slightly pink.  Add lentils to mixture and if any extra liquid from lentils add up to 2 Tbsp but no more. Remove from heat and fold in fresh herbs of mint, dill and parsley.

Step  3:

Place warm lamb/beef and lentil dish on the bottom of a 8x10 pan and spread over the entire pan covering the bottom of the pan.  While still hot place mashed potatoes over the lentil and lamb or beef filling and spread using a flat spatula until lamb filling is covered evenly and smoothly.

Step 3

Add an X to the top of the middle of the potatoes allowing the lamb/beef filling to heat if using cold mashed potatoes.  Cook in center of oven under the broiler until mashed potatoes are lightly browned and lamb/beef filling is warm.  Approx. 8-10 minutes.

 

Enjoy and remember you saved yourself some time, some money, and  without a doubt made your momma proud!😘😉

Tips:

  • Meat blended with the baking soda will not add flavor but cuts cooking time and creates less liquid so that meat is not being steamed.

  • Garlic mashed potatoes will work well with this as well.

  • It is okay to use mashed potatoes that have not been put through a ricer, it may just not look as smooth but will still taste delicious.

  • If you have a large flat bottom steel pan this works even better than a casserole pan as it heats the bottom filling nicely as shown in the photo below.

  • ENJOY with a bottle of Light Red wine such as a Barbera from Italy 🍷😋

Red Wine and Comforting Shepherd's Pie

Red Wine and Comforting Shepherd's Pie