Cranberry and Walnut Stuffed Lamb Patties

Tonight was family game night at our house, and my darling little sister adores lamb, so I decided to treat her and my brother to some delectable lamb patties.  I mixed celery, dried cranberries, diced scallion and walnuts into the ground meat to make the patties have a little extra pizzazz.  

The Meat

- 1 1/2 pounds of ground lamb

- 1 scallion, diced

- 2 stalks of celery, diced

- 1/4 cup of dried cranberries

- 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts

- 2 stalks of green onions, diced

- 4 slices of Port Salut cheese

- salt, pepper, dill, marjoram, savory, cinnamon, paprika to taste

The Veggies

- 1 head of cauliflower, chopped

- 1 large sweet potato, chopped

- 2 turnips, chopped

- 1 zucchini, cut into large pieces

- 1 summer squash, cut into large pieces

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- salt, pepper, dill, marjoram to taste

- 1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.

Put the chopped veggies into a glass baking dish.  Brush the tops with olive oil and season everything.  Pop the pan in the oven and cook the veggies for 45 minutes.

In a metal mixing bowl, prepare the ground lamb with the goodies listed above.  Form the patties with your hands (remember to take off your rings!) and place them on your griddle pan to cook.  Cook them on high heat, turning occasionally, until the inside is just pink in the center if you cut one open.  The lamb will continue to cook a few minutes after taken off of the heat, so you don't want them to dry out.  

Layer the Port Salut cheese on top of the patties and let it melt for a minute before serving.  Sprinkle green onion on top of everything and enjoy the meal!

Coffee and Spice Rubbed Lamb Chops

This lamb recipe is to die for, especially if you like coffee.  The marinade is easy to make, and it only takes around 30 minutes to totally infuse the lamb with the rich flavors of the coffee and spices, but you can marinate the lamb for 3-4 hours if you want it to be really bursting with flavor.  Rub the marinade liberally all over both sides of the lamb and let it sit before cooking.

The Meat

- 2 bone-in lamb shoulder blade chops

The Marinade

- 1 tablespoon ground coffee beans (your choice of roast)

- 2 teaspoons crushed garlic

- 1/4 cup of olive oil

- 1/4 cup Port wine

- savory, crushed mint, thyme, sea salt, pepper, cumin, rosemary, and bay leaves to taste

The Sauce

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1/4 cup whipping cream

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1/4 cup Port wine

- 1/4 cup vegetable stock

- 8 crimini mushrooms, sliced

- 1 stalk fennel, diced

- 1 shallot, diced

- the leftover marinade (especially the coffee)

- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch, dissolved in a teaspoon of water

The Veggies

- 4-5 yellow potatoes, peeled

- 1 1/2 cup water

- salt, pepper to taste

- 1/4 cup whipping cream

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1/2 head of broccoli, chopped

When it is time to make dinner, scrape off as much of the marinade as possible and save it for your sauce.  To start the sauce, melt the butter and put the olive oil, fennel, mushrooms, and shallot into a simmer sauce pan.  Saute for 3-5 minutes on medium low heat and then pour in the Port, cream, leftover marinade, and the vegetable stock.  Let this cook for 30-40 minutes on low heat.  In the last 5 minutes, add the dissolved tapioca starch to thicken the sauce slightly. 

Cook the lamb chops on high heat on your griddle pan.  I cooked mine for 8 minutes per side, keeping the inside a little pink since the lamb will continue to cook for around 5 minutes after you remove it from the heat.  You want the internal temperature to reach 125 degrees.

Boil the potatoes for 25-30 minutes on high heat in a covered pot.  Drain and put the hot potatoes in a mixing bowl.  Add the cream and butter, mash them up into some fantastically creamy potatoes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Steam the broccoli for 10 minutes until the leaves are bright green and the stalks still maintain some firmness.  Place the broccoli on your plates, and spoon some mashed potatoes next to it.  Layer the chops partially over the mashed potatoes and generously cover the lamb with the sauce, making sure to get the potatoes too.  

I hope you'll love this lamb dish as much as we did!

A Trip To The Farm Means Twice Baked Zucchini

Our friend has a small plot of farmland up in Petaluma, and he brought us up there yesterday to weed, seed, and harvest some amazing heirloom vegetables.  We were so impressed with his bountiful crops and we truly enjoyed spending the entire day weeding, learning, and picking some fantastic vegetables.  We were lucky enough to get to bring some of the veggies home to make, including THE BIGGEST ZUCCHINI SQUASH I HAVE EVER SEEN.  It was two feet long (!!), and I had to get creative to cook it.  Much like you can make twice baked potatoes, I made a twice baked zucchini, and it was superb!  

We have a dinner party with some family every Sunday night, and we love to go to The Fatted Calf and get some of their special made crepinettes.  This week we had lamb patties wrapped in their signature fatty netting, with pine nuts and figs.    

The Meat

- 7 lamb crepinettes from The Fatted Calf

The Veggies

- 2 large turnips, cubed

- 8-10 cloves garlic, peeled

- 1 gigantic zucchini

- butter, salt, marjoram, pepper, garlic powder to taste

- 3-4 figs, chopped 

- Parmesan cheese, to taste

- 6-10 Padron peppers, diced

- 1/2 red onion, sliced

- 4 tablespoons of olive oil, divided

- 2-3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

Preheat your oven to 380 degrees.

This meal took around an hour and a half of prep, so try to time out your cooking times so you don't have food sitting and getting cold waiting for the other parts of the meal to come together.

I cubed and roasted the sweet potatoes with a tablespoon of olive oil, half a cup of water, and salt and pepper in my glass baking pan for around 45 minutes.  I had the pan ready to go and just popped them in when it was around 50 minutes before serving time.  

Cube and boil the turnips with the garlic until they are tender, around 20 minutes on medium high heat.  Drain them and then mash the turnips and garlic together and set them aside to add to the zucchini later.

Look at the size of this zucchini next to my bread knife.  When I cut it open, the seeds were big enough to be mistaken for pumpkin seeds!  I scooped out the raw innards and kept the skins to become my "bowls".  The skins got dolloped with butter and brushed with olive oil, and then I liberally salted and peppered them.  Then they got popped into the oven to roast for 30 minutes.  

I took the "meat" of the zucchini that I had scooped out and put in a saute pan with the cooked turnips and garlic.  I added butter and olive oil, plus some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and marjoram.  I sauteed the mixture until the zucchini was soft, around 15 minutes on medium low heat, then used my masher to really blend everything together.  I added a few teaspoons of tapioca starch to the mash to thicken it a bit.  

While the zucchini was sauteing, I also softened some red onion and the Padron peppers we had picked in a small pan with a little olive oil on medium heat.  I moved everything around in the pan pretty often, and after around 10 minutes they were ready for the next step.

Next it was time to remove the roasted zucchini skins and spoon the mash into them.  I sprinkled chopped figs, parmesan cheese, and the sauteed Padron peppers and red onion on top of the mash and then put the whole shebang back into the oven for 15 more minutes.   

I grilled the lamb patties on my Griddler and then put everything on platters to serve.  This dinner party menu went over really well, everyone loved the way I presented the giant zucchini! :)

Curry Lamb Patties with Asparagus and Baked Eggplant

I love lamb.  This is such a rich and yet simple meal.  The eggplant is soft and savory, and the hint of curry powder makes each bite a little exotic and extra flavorful.  

The Meat

- 3/4 pound of ground lamb, divided into 2 patties

- curry powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste

The Veggies

- 1/2 eggplant, sliced

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, chopped

- 1/2 medium sized red onion, sliced and diced

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

- salt, pepper, curry powder, parsley, dill to taste

- 20-24 asparagus stalks, bottoms cut off

- bacon grease for frying

- salt, pepper to taste

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, sliced

The Sauce

- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

- curry powder, salt, dill, lemon juice to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Layer your eggplant slices into a glass baking dish that can go into your oven.  Cover them with the chopped tomatoes and red onion.  Pour in the water and oil, and season generously.  Bake the whole shebang for around 25-30 minutes.

Season and make your lamb patties by dividing the ground meat and rolling it into two large balls, then slowly squishing it flatter with the palms of your hands.  Try to blend the meat together enough so it won't crack down the middle of your patties.

When the eggplant is around halfway cooked, grease your griddle pan with some bacon grease and on medium-high heat grill/fry up your asparagus stalks for around 6-8 minutes, rolling them so they don't char on one side.  Then cook your lamb patties on the same pan, using the leftover grease that's there from cooking your asparagus.  Flip the patties after around 5-6 minutes, and cook them another 5-6.  You want the centers of the patties to be slightly pink when you take them off, because they will continue to cook and you don't want to dry the meat out by overcooking it.  

When mixing your yogurt sauce, add curry powder a little at a time, blending well, until you have a taste you like and your sauce has the faintest tinge of curry orange to it.  Dollop it onto the cooked lamb, arrange the remaining slices of tomato, and serve!