Grilled Lamb Kebobs

My wife did the grocery shopping recently and came home with a pound of organic free range ground lamb for me do something with. Normally, I would make Kheema, but since it was nearly 7 PM and still over 90°F outside, I didn't want to cook anything in the house; Grill, baby, grill!

I went in search of a grilled ground lamb recipe and found this recipe for Ground Lamb on Skewers - essentially, Grilled Lamb Kebobs.

It's a pretty straight forward recipe, chop up some stuff, combine some spiced/herbs, mix it all with the meat, skewer it and stick it on the grill.

Grilled Lamb Kebobs

Ingredients:

1 green chile, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 pound lamb (or beef)

2 teaspoon coriander

2 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground almonds

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

vegetable oil

1 egg

For the chile, I used a jalapeño and the 'coriander' I took to be fresh cilantro (both right off the plant from the garden). I ground some raw almonds in my spice grinder. Be sure not to process too much, it'll get a bit pasty if you're not careful.

Method:

Preheat grill.

Mix all ingredients together.

Mold mixture around long skewers (or do it the hard way and form the mixture into long thin sausages and thread onto skewers). Only the ends of the skewers should be visible.

(obviously, thiswas not how I did it!)

Place on grill, brush with oil and cook until done.

Remove from skewers and serve.

Traditionally served with rice and onion slices.

Kebobs just placed on the grill

After the first turn

A little flare up starting from the oil/grease

Into the fire for a final char

Off the grill and ready to serve

And ready to eat!

Topped off with some tahini on a bed of Jasmine rice.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Rustic Lamb Stew, Crock pot style

Mmm, Lamb. I love lamb, always have. I remember my mom making baby lamb chops for me as a birthday present, a great present, as they certainly weren't cheap and we certainly weren't rich. But damn, they were good. I hear people say about lamb today, "modern lamb", that it's not as gamy tasting and not as strong smelling as it used to be. Personally, I liked the odor, liked the strong, strong flavor.
I recently found that the grocery store I frequent carries "Lamb for stew", cubes of pretty lean lamb. I bought a package and went in search of recipe. I found this one on recipezarr and gave it a try, changing up a couple of things (Mushrooms! We must have mushrooms!). I was very impressed. It has a deep woodsy flavor, hearty and very satisfying. I have made it twice more since, including once with a combination of beef and pork instead of lamb.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless lean lamb stew meat, cut in 1 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed dry thyme leaves
1 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 cups of water
1 cup bite sized carrot chuncks (about 1/2 pound or more or as much as you want)
2 cups diced potatoes
1 pound Crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Method:
1. Sprinkle the lamb with 1/2 t salt and the pepper.
2. Dredge the lamb in the flour to coat.
3. Heat the olive oil in a 2 to 3 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
4. Brown lamb a few pieces at a time in the hot oil. Be sure not to crowd it while browning.
5. Remove the browned lamb to the crock pot with a slotted spoon.
6. Reduce heat under the Dutch oven to medium.
7. Add the sliced onion and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until lightly browned.
8. Stir in the water scraping up browned bits on bottom of pot.
9. Transfer the onion mixture to the crock pot; add carrots, mushrooms and potatoes to the crock pot, too.
10.Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, adding peas during the last 30 to 45 minutes (or earlier if youlike them a bit more mushy!).

As mentioned above, I made it once with beef and pork instead of lamb, but only because I was craving a hearty stew and Kroger was out of lamb that week. That version was pretty good, also.

Enjoy,
Lorence