Start the dinner with this Camembert Sourdough Wreath

Many people either make the turkey dinner all over again or they make lasagna. It was actually googling spinach lasagna 16 years ago that inspired me to start a food blog.

We usually make something with beef and then add in the fancy side dishes. Here are some ideas for you.

Tenderloin Roast of Beef – I think this is what we will be doing again this year, although I am going to make some kind of fancy sauce.

Prime Rib of Beef – This is still one of my all time favorite dinners with sour cream horseradish sauce. I have friends who use my recipe every year and brag about it.

Leg of Lamb – This should not be restricted to easter. Leg of lamb is scrumptuous and more affordable than many cuts of premium beef.

Beef Bourguignon – This very fancy beef stew, made with a whole bottle of wine, is good enough for Christmas Day. My oven broke a few years ago and this became Christmas dinner.

Stuffed Shells – I think this is one of the pasta dishes that should be made sometime during the holidays if not for Christmas day. You can get the whole family in the kitchen with piping bags filling the large shells. Fun and delicious.

Mock Porchetta with Root Vegetables – This pork roast (considered street food in Italy when sliced onto rolls) is one of my favorite ways to eat pork. I found this recipe in the Zuni Cafe cookbook (a San Francisco restaurant I can attest to). It’s stuffed with fennel and lemon and has all the Italian feels. Surround it with your favorite root vegetables.

Short Ribs in Wine – Yes, this is a great Christmas dinner idea that can be made in advance. It took me a while to create a great short ribs recipe. This is it.

Pork Loin (how to brine and roast) – Perfect with my no lump mashed potatoes. Another affordable entree that pleases a crowd.

If you are going to have a small Christmas dinner gathering, you might want to make this very easy Rack of Lamb.

Veal Osso Buco – I know you probably don’t make this very often, if at all, but it’s just delicious and something to try.

Pot Roast of Beef served with Parmesan Whipped Potatoes – This is a Marcella Hazan recipe, the queen of Italian cooking. She passed some years ago and her book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking continues to sell. The first 50 pages discuss the fundamentals of Italian cooking and is worth the price alone. This book has no pictures, but many accolades over the last 50 years!

Fancy Sides

• Holiday Wedge Salad (homemade blue cheese dressing)
• Kale Winter Salad
• Festive Harvest Salad with rosemary vinaigrette
• Raw Cauliflower Salad with Pistachios
• Scalloped Potatoes
• Twice Baked Cauliflower

Some Desserts to Consider

• Almond Tart
• Keto Spiced Pear Cheesecake Bar
• Classic Fancy Keto Cheesecake
• Christmas Apple Pie (not low carb)
• Low Carb Italian Pear Cake
• Keto Raspberry Cheesecake
• Rich Flourless Chocolate Cake (not low carb)

The post Main Entrees for Christmas Dinner appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

These easy Greek recipes have minimal ingredients and maximum taste.

Lamb Recipes Greek Style

Greek Feta Stuffed Lamb Meatballs with Pistachio Mint Pesto – These are absolutely delicious.

Reverse Sear Lollypop Lamb Chops with Mint Pistou – If you haven’t tried the reverse sear method for grilling, you are in for a treat. Serve with these crispy potatoes.

Greek Style Flash Fried Cauliflower -Made with lemon, feta, almonds and kalamata olives, cauliflower is transformed into a delicious side dish that will disappear fast.

Olive Oil and Honey

The combination of olive oil and honey go a long way. Try drizzling both on bread, cheese, and use both in salad dressings.

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The post Easy Greek Inspired Dinner Recipes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

However, I still wasn’t sold on leg of lamb or ground lamb. I had to find out for myself that lamb is versatile and quite special. Now I love making a rack of lamb, or lamb meatballs. I couldn’t believe how wonderful parmesan crusted lamb chops could be.

Doug’s favorite here is lamb stew, while I’m smitten with leg of lamb and am so happy when we’re celebrating with other people and I get to make this.

These are my favorite easy lamb recipes.

Reverse Sear Lollypop Lamb Chops – this is my new favorite way to make chops. 

Rack of Lamb – This is fancy food that you can make at home in twenty minutes, and it’s so easy. Love loves my favorite mediterranean spices such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, coupled with dijon.

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Chops – This is a Marcella Hazan recipe that will blow you away. I hesitated to try this recipe and was so surprised at its perfection.

Greek Lamb Feta Meatballs – Using a mixture of ground beef and ground lamb, topping with a mint pistachio pesto sauce, this is a family friendly way to introduce people to lamb.

Grilled Reverse Sear Lolly Pop Lamb Chops

Braised Lamb Shank – Braised in red wine to fork tender goodness.

Roast Leg of Lamb – This is a classic dinner, perfect for Spring holidays. Once a leg of lamb is properly trimmed, roast to a perfect medium rare and serve with pistachio mint pesto.

Lamb Shank – Braised in red wine, fork tender good.

 Lamb Feta Party Bites – These are made with a piece of bread, feta cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. Super fun idea.

Bonus Recipe:

Hunger Games Lamb Stew – Inspired from the book series, this stew is made with dried plums, is savory with a touch of sweet and is sensational in flavor.

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Do you have a great lamb recipe I need to try? Please let me know in the comments.

The post Seven Scrumptious Easy Lamb Recipes You Need to Make appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Most people, including me, are very tenuous about making leg of lamb.  While lamb chops seem easy, most people don’t know how to cook a roast lamb and it seems daunting.

There are many questions,  because a leg of lamb is not something we make every day. It’s expensive, so we want to make sure we get it right.

What is a leg of lamb?

It’s the upper part of the back haunch of the animal and is naturally tender.

What do I do with the netting? How do I tie the leg of lamb?

I purchased boneless leg of lamb, which came in a netting. Sometimes that netting is oven safe, but I still choose to remove it,  so I could rub it with my herb mixture. I retied with butcher’s twine.

The fell was already removed, as well as the shank.  The fell is a word you may not be familiar with. It’s the papery, thin, membrane that covers the leg of lamb. Most of the time it’s removed before you purchase it.

Do I roast or braise the leg of lamb?

The general opinion on lamb is to roast, not braise and ruin it. However, I recently braised lamb shanks in red wine, and then there’s my most popular post, the Hunger games lamb stew with dried plums.

In these cases, braising made sense, but for an elegant sliced leg of lamb, roasting is the way to go.

How to Cook Roast Lamb: How do I Marinate?

I decided to opt out of marinating, which is not necessary, as leg of lamb is tender and juicy, with lots of fat. If you do marinate, don’t over do it as just a few hours is all you need.

How to Cook Roast Lamb: How do I season lamb?

Lamb simply loves rosemary, thyme and garlic. It also loves dijon mustard. You can make rub from herbs and garlic or add in a little dijon mustard and olive oil. Just make sure you use plenty, finely chopped (fresh herbs are best), and cover the whole thing. Before applying this rub, you will want to stab the lamb all over at 1/2 inch inserts, which will allow all the flavors to penetrate.

Do I go low and slow or use a high temperature?

I ended up going with a 400 degree F. oven and roasting at about 20 minutes a pound for a medium rare.

What sauce or gravy do I serve with Leg of Lamb?

I sliced it and served it with my secret weapon that turns everyone into a lamb lover, mint pistachio pesto.

The funny thing about this is I am not a mint fan in general. However, when you take fresh mint, parsley, garlic, lemon zest,  and pistachios and smoosh them with olive oil, you have something irresistible.

This is my basil pistachio pesto. I simply left out the cheese (not right for lamb) and replaced basil with mint. You can decide how chunky you want the pesto. I left it fairly chunky, but on a different day I may choose to do it smoother.

I served this to a friend during lunch. She loved it and went back for more. It was tender, and flavorful (not gamey), and she thought the mint pistachio pesto was spot on.

I could think of serving the pesto on several of my other lamb dishes, such as the parmesan crusted lamb chops and my rack of lamb. 

If you do cook roast lamb, serve it with this roasted dijon potatoes or these lemon dijon roasted purple potatoes. Or if you’re low-carbing it, please make this mashed cauliflower, which will marry so well with all those textures and flavors.

What do you do with the leg of lamb leftovers?

If you have left over lamb, you might want to make a shredded lamb shepherd’s pie. I will come back with a recipe for that.

Some years ago I made a lamb feta party bites.  You could do that with leftovers but do top it with mint pistachio pesto. That would be outstanding!

More Lamb Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• Rack of Lamb
• Braised Lamb Shanks
• Parmesan Lamb Chops
• Lollypop Lamb Chops
• Lamb Bites
• Lamb Skewers
• Lamb Shanks with Juniper Berries

More Pesto Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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How to Cook Roast Lamb with a Mint Pistachio Pesto

Delicious and Easy Roasted Leg of Lamb with Mint PIstachio Pesto for an elegant dinner.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Boneless Leg of Lamb

• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary you may use more if fresh
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• lemon zest from half lemon
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• freshly grounded black pepper

Mint Pistachio Pesto

• 1/3 cup roasted salted shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• lemon zest from half lemon
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup big handful flat Italian parsley
• 1 cup big handful fresh mint (see notes)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Have ready a roasting pan with a rack.
• If you purchase a leg of lamb wrapped in a net, it is already likely properly trimmed. Sometimes the net is oven safe. I always remove and retie.
• If the leg of lamb still has the fell, a papery membrane, it must be trimmed off.
• Retie lamb with butcher’s twine.
• Using a pairing knife, make sharp inserts about 1/2 long, all over the lamb. I will usually do this through the netting, but it doesn’t matter.
• Make lamb rub. Chop garlic, rosemary together. Mix with dijon mustard, lemon zest, olive oil.
• Season lamb with salt and pepper all over.
• Put the rub all over the lamb.
• Put lamb onto rack on roasting pan. I
• If you don’t have a rack, just place on shallow baking pan, such as a large cast iron pan.
• Roast till internal temperature reaches 130 degrees F. for medium rare in center. The pieces on the outside will be medium.
• It will be approximately 20 minutes per pound.
• Check the lamb at 60 minutes. If its getting too brown, loosely place a piece of foil over lamb.
• Make Mint PIstachio Pesto
• Chop garlic.
• Put all ingredients for pesto into blender or food processor, until you get the texture you want.
• If you want it chunky, a food processor works better. If you want it smoother, use a Vitamix type blender and add a tablespoon of softened butter at the end.

Notes

If you don’t have a lot of fresh mint from a garden, buy one package and offset with more parsley if need be.

The post How to Cook Roast Lamb and Mint Pistachio Pesto appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This is the easiest way to make red wine braised lamb shanks.  You can use a dutch oven or braise the lamb in a slow cooker with red wine, and rosemary.

The other day I met a fellow Nashville Blogger, Luv Cooks, at Bare Bones Butcher, because she needed bones to make bone broth.   I was so impressed with what they do and how they do it, and I immediately set my eyes on lamb, specifically the lamb shanks.

It’s easy to find local pork and beef in Nashville, but lamb is another matter. Thanks to Palmer Farms, I was able to bring home  local pastured lamb shanks.  I had never made lamb shanks before and Laura, who works at Bare Bones Butcher, suggested I think classically French  and braise in red wine.

I’m not sure how classical this is, because I had no carrots, but I did have dried plums. I learned this trick from making the extremely popular Hunger Games Lamb Stew, One of our personal top ten recipes here.

I added onions, garlic and lots of red wine. And, I have a dutch oven and lots of herbs laying around.

I browned the shanks, sweated the onion, added the garlic, added the red wine. After that cooked down for a bit, I added the broth.

Use a Good Wine for Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks

You can purchase very decent wines to cook with in the $15 range, such as a Louis Jadot Beaujolais and you don’t always need to use the whole bottle.  I added two cups of organic chicken broth to the wine. You may need more to add more, as you want the liquid about halfway up the meat.

I cooked this very slow and low for several hours, placing the dutch oven in my oven at 300 degrees. This would work well in a slow cooker also.

The red wine braised lamb was fork tender. I cooked down the sauce to get it thicker and it was absolutely delicious. It’s not the prettiest of meats, but it’s so tasty, as anything falling off of a bone is.

Serve with no-lump Mashed Potaotes.

Serve with Tuscan Kale Salad.

Disclosure: This site contains Amazon affiliate links, which earn Spinach Tiger a small commission but does not increase prices.

More Lamb Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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Lamb Shank in Red Wine

Lamb Shanks braised in red wine.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 lamb shanks
• salt and pepper
• 1 large onion large diced
• 4 carrots large dice (or 4 dried plums)
• 4 garlic cloves sliced
• 4 cups chicken or beef broth organic
• 1 sprig rosemary see notes
• 1/2 bottle of red wine approximately 2 cups
• bay leaf

Instructions

• Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper
• Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan. I used a dutch oven.
• Brown lamb on all sides. Remove from pan.
• Add in carrots, onion and soften about five minutes. I didn't have carrots and I used dried plums. They add a bit of sweetness and I used them for a lamb stew that is quite popular..
• Add in sliced garlic.
• Add in red wine, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Add in 2 to 4 cups of broth. I used chicken broth. You can use beef broth.You want the liquid about half way up the shanks.
• Add in lamb, rosemary, bay leaf.
• If using a dutch oven, place in oven with lid for 3 to 4 hours at 300 degrees. You can turn down to 250 degrees after three hours or if the liquid is boiling. Keep it at a simmer.
• If using a slow cooker, you can cook on low all day.

Notes

In place of fresh rosemary, use 1 teaspoon of dried.
You can also use two teaspoons of herb de provence.

The post Braised Lamb Shanks in Red Wine appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Post Edit: This recipe won Hunger Games Lamb Stew recipe contest with Stapleton-Spence and published in Huffington Post for Best Children’s Book Food.

In the third book of the Hunger Games Trilogy,  The Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen, by this point, a heroine who is mentally and physically flattened, yet not defeated, delivers a powerful commentary on the wonderfulness of comfort food:

“I’m starving and the stew is so delicious—beef, potatoes, turnips, and onions in a thick gravy—that I have to force myself to slow down. All around the dining hall, you can feel the rejuvenating effect that a good meal can bring on. The way it can make people kinder, funnier, more optimistic, and remind them it’s not a mistake to go on living. It’s better than any medicine.”  –Katniss Everdeen.

Collins, Suzanne (2010). Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) (pp. 238-239). Scholastic Books. Kindle Edition.

By now  you have heard of the Hunger Games trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. Originally written for teenagers and young adults,  as a futuristic boy meets girl with a gladiator theme, the Hunger Games have swept the country.  The above quote from the third book isn’t about this lamb stew but it was to me the most poignant statement regarding the allure of food.

I had avoided the books for a long time because, reading anything with gruesome violence and blatant injustice is not my thing. As an artist and writer, I become too affected by fictional details to remember it’s fiction. Once I saw that the first movie was coming out this month, and people were already buying tickets, I downloaded it to my iPad and  was hooked on page one , reading all three books in a few days. But not for the reasons you may think.

The theme is domination. A new government (the Capitol) now exists in  Panem, what used to be the United States, and is divided into 12 regions. A previous attempt to rebel against the harsh domination and control of a big brother type regime  has resulted in the cruelest reality television the world has ever seen. The Hunger Games.

Every year, a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 will be chosen from each region and put into a technologically manipulated arena equipped with mutated creatures and incredible unexpected hardships all employed by the gamemakers behind the force field, which keeps the tributes from escape.

It is mandatory that every citizen must watch the games. Twenty four tributes go in.  One tribute comes out alive. Many are killed in the first hour by the mass hysteria to grab weapons from the landing point and run. Some are killed by the gruesome manipulation of nature that the gamemakers have rigged up. Some lose their soul. Some find their soul, although any mention of God or any higher being is noticeably silent.

The winning  tribute will then become a mentor for the rest of their life, helping future tributes survive and mostly watching them die. Even if you win, you lose, because you can never escape your role in the Hunger Games.

Promoted as a teenage love triangle (as there is a boy meets girl meets another boy plot), I found that to be  quite secondary to the theme of survival, dominion, the brutality towards children and the devaluing of life and in a unexpected twist, the power of good food.

The love story for me was not the story here.  The story is man’s inhumanity to man, as the romance is clouded by the depths of darkness in which man will go to in order to gain and maintain power. They use hunger to weaken the people.

They use children to terrify them into submission. Those same terrified people get caught up in watching the games and cheering tributes on. They choose sides and each region needs its tribute to win, for there is a food payoff for the people for a whole year.  It’s the government’s way of slowly sucking the life out of any humanity that is left. Except one thing.

What perked me up along the pages of torture and deception, was the attention the author gave to food. The protagonist, Katniss, comes from what was formerly Appalachia, a poor region, where it was vital for her family’s survival to sneak into the woods and hunt rabbits, wild turkeys, squirrels and then some animals we may never consider food and either eat them or sell them in the black market. In such a culture, even strawberries can bring a nice bounty.

At times, the pains of hunger are drawn out over the pages, as meat is eaten raw, evergreens are used to make soup, tree bark becomes dinner and cubed rat becomes a good meal.

At other times, there are mouth watering descriptions of banquets in the Capitol where gluttony prevails as it did in the Roman Empire.

People gorge on vast amounts of rich,  succulent food, drink a vial of medicine,  throw it up and return to the feast.  During the preparation for the games, the twenty four tributes are treated like celebrities, dressed by a team of stylists and fed like kings and queens, because after all, for twenty three tributes, these are their last meals.

In between the starkness of not enough and the over indulgence of feasting on 30 different dishes, are the days Katniss  simply eats what I would call good comfort food, savors every bite and experiences momentary happiness.

Katniss has a favorite meal. During a macabre live interview to generate enthusiasm with the crowds, Katniss is asked a question.

“So, Katniss, the Capitol must be quite a change from District Twelve. What’s impressed you most since you arrived here?” asks Caesar. What? What did he say? It’s as if the words make no sense. My mouth has gone as dry as sawdust. I desperately find Cinna in the crowd and lock eyes with him. I imagine the words coming from his lips. “What’s impressed you most since you arrived here?” I rack my brain for something that made me happy here. Be honest, I think. Be honest. “The lamb stew,” I get out. Caesar laughs, and vaguely I realize some of the audience has joined in. “The one with the dried plums?” asks Caesar. I nod. “Oh, I eat it by the bucketful.”

Collins, Suzanne (2009). The Hunger Games (p. 127). Scholastic Books. Kindle Edition.

Lamb Stew with Dried Plums. It’s hard not to try to envision how this must taste to Katniss, because it’s one of the few times she seems to take pleasure in anything.

She is a tragic character, haunted by the terror forced upon her. Only when she is enjoying a meal, does the reader get any rest or reprieve from the intensity of  human sacrifice.

The lamb stew with dried plums shows up in all three books, as does attention to the details of food. We learn a lot about what they eat for breakfast lunch and dinner, whether it’s in their own home regions, before after or during the games.

The author understands the basic satisfaction that food provides, especially when it is prepared properly and elevated in flavor, and  she uses it to help the reader understand the pains of hunger, and the difference a good meal can make to the spirit of survival. The joy of good food that hits so many senses at once in the human body (many we probably don’t understand) can never be replaced by a pill, or a needle that might be able to keep one alive.

Good food transcends tragedy and brings the human spirit a sense of hope. I chose to make the lamb stew because it was the favorite meal in all three books, and when Katniss ate it, you could feel her momentary happiness.

The Stew and My Secret Ingredient

I have never made a lamb stew before, but I felt a kindred spirit with Katniss if only in what a pleasure a good meal could bring in a harsh time. Her descriptions of food tell me that if she were here today,  she would be called a nose to tail foodie who eats everything, fresh from the land, wasting nothing.

I have never cooked with dried plums before (prunes) and now I wonder why. The savory lamb with rosemary and thyme, sweetened by the dried plums created a very unique flavor, and I brought it all together with a bottle of beer in the stew.

I love this cast iron Dutch Oven.

I decided to load the stew with slices of onions, not diced, and build my flavors from there. I used fresh rosemary and thyme from own garden (two herbs that I can enjoy year round.) I minced  some of the herbs into the flour that I used to dredge the lamb before browning.  I added ingredients in stages and went back and forth about how to address the dried plums.

I had a discussion with other foodie types. Once thought I should mince the dried plums and one thought I should quarter them. I decided to leave them whole because they are so beautiful in the pot. This is a winning dish and one that deserved to be mentioned in all three books. I pulled it all together with a bottle of beer.

Tell me have you read the Hunger Games  and did it ever make you crave your favorite comfort food?

So tell me are you a fan of the Hunger Games? Once I got started, I couldn’t get enough.

If you love this lamb stew, you are going to love this beef stew, and this veal stew. 

Beef Bourguinon

Veal Stew with Sage, Onion Sauce,  Purple Potatoes

Veal and Turnip Stew

Let’s Connect. I really want to connect with you. I’m at Instagram.

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Hunger Games Lamb Stew with Dried Plums

Lamb Stew with Dried Plums appears throughout the trilogy of the Hunger Games. Slowly braised with beer, and herbs there is a special earthiness that makes this dish belong to the book’s main character, Katniss.

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 4 pound leg of lamb
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons finely fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsely
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons grapeseed oil or canola oil
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 large onion sliced into long slivers about 1/4 inch wide
• 2 cups diced celery
• 1 bottle beer see note
• 4 cups beef stock
• 12 ounces of dried plums
• 2 large sprigs of rosemary
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• handful fresh Italian Parsley
• 2 cups diced carrots
• 3 potatoes cubed

Instructions

• Trim fat and any grizzle off of the lamb. Cut into two inch cubes.
• In a shallow bowl add the finely chopped herbs to the flour.
• Season the meat with salt and pepper.
• Dredge the lamb in the herb-flavored flour.
• Heat a heavy pan with enough oil to brown lamb.
• You may have to do several batches so the lamb browns easily. Don’t crowd pan.
• Slice onions into long slivers. Heat a dutch oven or large sauce pan with oil. Add onions and mix cook over medium heat for about five minutes until softened. Add in celery.
• Add in garlic. Mix well. Add meat back in.
• Add in 1/2 cup of beef broth. Add in 1 bottle of porter beer. Cook down for about five minutes. Add remaining beef broth.
• Add in dried plums (seeded and cut in half, which is how they are often purchased)
• Cover and place in oven at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
• Add in chopped carrots and potato and cook until potatoes and carrots are soft.
• Remove herbs. Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
• Serve over wild rice or as it.

Notes

You can use a stout beer or if you want to try something lighter a wheat ale. I made two batches, one with wheat ale (which turned out sweeter) and one with Porter, which turned out a little richer. Both were good.

The post Hunger Games Lamb Stew with Dried Plums appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Today, I am in Milan. As I was eating a breaded veal cutlet last night, I thought of  Marcella Hazan’s Parmesan Crusted Lamb Chops. Normally, I wouldn’t bread lamb chops and especially not think of a parmesan crust, but these are amazing.

These just might be the best lamb chops you have ever eaten. You won’t believe how juicy and flavorful they are. As you bite upon the parmesan crust, you will want more.

I like meat that requires no sauces, etc. And, these are just pick up and eat as they are, and if you are like me, you’ll get every little morsel off of the bone. Serve a salad with a lemony dressing or a bounty of roasted asparagus and you have the perfect meal.

You can prepare the chops ahead and refrigerate. Take out 30 minutes before frying to bring to room temperature and enjoy a “dinner party” meal in the middle of a week.

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Parmesan Crusted Lamb Chops

Adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking, crispy, parmesan lamb chops.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Total Time 18 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 6 lamb chops flattened (I cut each chop from a rack of lamb)
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 1/2 cup non-flavored bread crumbs
• salt
• pepper
• vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

• Turn chops into the cheese, pressing cheese into the meat.
• Dip into beaten egg.
• Coat with breadcrumbs.
• Heat oil very hot and place chops in frying pan, until each side has formed a nice, golden crust.
• Seasen with salt and pepper.

The post Parmesan Crusted Lamb Chops appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

You have all weekend to make this dinner for Valentine’s Day, but lucky you, you only need about thirty minutes.

It’s a long story, but a few years ago this was our super bowl dinner, as we were having our floor repaired.   They were supposed to finish on Saturday, but it was a tough job as it was one of the coldest days of the year, and it was pouring. I’m not complaining; they worked hard, but it prevented us from inviting anyone over to watch the game, and the kitchen was cold.

I did care, however, about dinner. In a very cold kitchen,  amidst the clamor of hammers and other noisy tools, I managed to make two kinds of grain free chocolate chip cookies and an amazingly great rack of lamb dinner that took almost no effort.

The workers left, and dinner was ready. The floor was no longer a safety hazard. Peace and quiet were restored. A juicy rack of lamb sings of romance and calm.

The Process

Total prep time was less than 10 minutes, roasting time at about 20 minutes. It hit all the right spots. Healthy, grain free, hearty, decadent, tender juicy rack of lamb that was so good, we think this was the best lamb dish we ever ate at home.

You could make this together for Valentine’s Day weekend, with minimal effort. It will bring a smile to both of you and you won’t feel overly stuffed. The Brussels sprouts were a surprisingly perfect accompaniment to the medium rare, juicy, tasty roasted rack of lamb. I served no sauce, no condiment, as the lamb chops were so juicy and flavorful, they are meant to be enjoyed naked.

So tell me do you go out to a restaurant on Valentine’s Day or do you prefer to stay in. I’d love to see you comment!

Please connect with me on instagram and subscribe and never miss a delicious healthy recipe.

Seven Lamb Recipes from Spinach Tiger  you need to make. 

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Rack of Lamb and Brussels Sprouts in Under 30 Minutes

Roasted rack of lamb with Brussels spouts, juicy and tender, made in under 30 minutes.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 rack of lamb frenched
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 teaspoon capers optional
• 4 cloves fresh garlic minced
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound Brussels sprouts
• 1 tablespoon Italian black olives
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley

Instructions

• Prepare a marinade of 2 tablespoons olive oil, Dijon mustard, and minced garlic, capers. Look here for an easy way to peel garlic.
• French the rack of lamb, cutting all the fat between the bones (your butcher can do that). Cut off most of fat across the rack. Lamb can often have too thick of a fat layer. It will still be juicy. Trust me on this.
• Smear the marinade all over the lamb. Cover and marinade for 4-6 hours.
• Take out of refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
• When you do that, preheat oven to 450 and prepare Brussels sprouts.
• Wash and trim Brussels sprouts and Slice them in half. Toss them in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add olives if you like.
• Heat cast iron pan in oven for about ten minutes.
• Place rack of lamb in oven for 10 minutes.
• Add in Brussels sprouts.
• Continue to roast both for ten minutes. Check temperature of lamb. An internal temperature of • 130-140 °F (54-60 °C) will give you medium rare.
• If Brussels sprouts don't seem done enough, remove lamb to a serving dish, cover with foil, allow to rest, and cook Brussels sprouts a few more minutes.
• Season lamb chops with salt and pepper and chopped Italian parsley.

Notes

Normally, I add freshly chopped thyme and rosemary to my lamb chops. I didn't have any and I used parsley. Feel free to add thyme and rosemary.

The post Rack of Lamb and Brussels Sprouts in Under 30 Minutes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

When I think of Greek food, I always think of lamb, olive oil, feta cheese. Each component was made separately. I skewered marinated lamb and olive oil brushed chunks of bread to assemble the perfect Greek party bite. I used minimal ingredients, making this easy entertaining.

The meze is similar to a tapas in that it’s not an appetizer or main course, but an eating experience with friends and family, where you take a bite of this, a bite of that. It could be a dish of olives, sliced crisp cucumbers, meat balls, dolmades, zucchini fritters, all  meant to be shared and eaten with ouzo or wine.

I remember in graduate school we were told a story about two groups of people living in community. Both groups had a challenging problem. They had a big pot of stew sitting in the middle of the group, but the spoons were three feet long and by the time they would bring it to their mouth, it would fall off. The people in one group kept trying to feed themselves, but they eventually failed and starved. The other group ate and thrived. They realized that if they took the large spoon and fed each other, everyone could eat.

That story has always stuck with me. I’m a sharer by nature, and I like to eat with a group, sharing bites, and having good conversation. The Greek meze resonates with my soul, and probably yours too.

Meze isn’t something you do alone. The more people involved, the more dishes at the table and the more variety in taste, texture and flavor. The best part (outside of the ouzo) is the sharing conversation, food and life with everyone at the table.

It seems that Greek food is loved universally as is all Mediterranean inspired food is. All one needs to do is say, “Greek food” and we salivate for sultry and salty flavors, feta cheese, oregano, and lamb, often brightened up with lemon or orange citrus.

I took a little liberty and put my own twist to these skewers. They would be probably be a bit more authentic sitting atop pita bread triangles, but I love the chunky grilled bread that sops up the lemon and herb olive oil.

The good news of this recipe is that I used the same marinade for everything, the lamb, the cheese and the drizzling at the end. This is a one-bite party food, and needs to be easy.

Olive oil, lemon, hot chili flakes, garlic, herbs, drive that sultry Mediterranean flavor profile we all love.

You can replace the lamb with chicken or meatballs.  You could use pita bread as the base of the meat, if you prefer. Have fun with it. It’s more of an idea than an exact recipe. This could be used as a dish to greet guests for a dinner party.   The portion size shouldn’t be more than two bites. Serve with a dish of  marinated Greek olives, and some ouzo.

Print

Lamb Feta Party Bites

Lamb, Marinated Feta Cheese, Chunks of Toasted Bread come to together as individual party skewers, drizzled with an olive oil marinade.

Prep Time 1 day day

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 day day 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• LAMB
• 1 pound lamb shank end of leg of lamb or top round
• sea salt black pepper
• MARINATE INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup olive oil divided maybe more
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or one teaspoon
• Several sprigs of thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 garlic cloves smashed, chopped finely
• zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme dried or fresh
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 6-8 ounces feta cheese cubed
• BREAD – use a crusty loaf that has a chewy soft center that would be good for toasting on grill.

Instructions

• Trim fat from lamb and cut into cubes.
• Salt and pepper the lamb.
• MARINADE INSTRUCTIONS
• Combine remaining ingredients except the feta cheese and bread for the marinade.
• Use 3/4 of marinade for lamb. Refrigerate 24 hours.
• Marinate the feta cheese with remaining.
• Trim crust off bread and cut into large cubes. Brush with olive oil.
• TO COOK:
• Heat grill on high and skewer lamb and bread SEPARATELY on different skewers.
• Grill lamb turning once for 5-8 minutes (3-4 minutes each side).
• Grill bread turning once for 1-2 minutes to golden brown.
• ASSEMBLE
• Using large tooth picks, skewer bread, lamb and cheese. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve.

Notes

Cook time is for cooking and assembling. Feel free to substitute lamb with chicken or beef cubes or perhaps Greek Meatballs.

The post Lamb Feta Party Bites appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I am such a food blogger personality type. Earlier this year, I purchased juniper berries, just because they sounded interesting. They sat in my pantry in a mason jar, waiting for a recipe.

Every month I pick our weekly dish for the Cooking Italy group, and when I saw juniper berries, I stopped, and headed to retrieve that jar. I never even looked at the recipe until I had already published the choices. And, that’s now a good thing.

The three reasons I might NOT have chosen this dish:

1. There is no pre-browning of the meat and that is not appealing.
2. Lamb shoulder. I’m pretty much a rack and chops girl.
3. Three hours of cooking on top of the stove…for lamb shoulder.
But, these cute juniper berries said, “give us a chance to tickle your palate and trust Marcella who said, “the roast will be ugly and grey” and she promised a happy ending, much  like the ugly duckling that turns into a beautiful brown swan lamb roast.

It’s the perfect dish to make when it’s a sunny day and you are stealing every moment to cook and photo several dishes at once for your blog, or….you are watching the game and it’s not too much trouble to turn the meat every 30 minutes.

The three reasons I would choose to make this again:

1. Taste and texture. Meat falls off the bone, is flavorful.
2. You get to use juniper berries and it’s not for Bambi.
3. Easy – this is the piece of meat anyone can cook if they can trust the instructions.

Meat and Potatoes
The lamb hits that umami taste bud, so what better to go with this than yukon gold potatoes cooked with mushrooms. Thanks to some of the tips from the cooking Italy group, I cut my potatoes much thinner than the recipe and used a convection roast setting, while keeping the roasting dish in the top part of the oven. They cooked in 20 minutes, and were crispy.

Can I talk to you again about following a recipe?
If you are following any food blogs, or you are a member of Cooking Italy, you probably know your way around the kitchen fairly well. Let me encourage you to use your own gut instincts. The potato recipe asked for a thick cut of potatoes. I don’t like steak fries or thick potatoes, so I changed it. It called for a 1/3 cup of olive oil. I have learned that when using a shallow stone baking pan (pampered chef) which is seasoned, I don’t need a lot of olive oil, so I simply use my hands to toss anything I am roasting. This lesser amount of oil also helped to crisp up the potatoes. The interesting thing is that the potatoes in general didn’t have a high success rate, but the lamb did. This speaks to my mantra that simple is not easy, and requires more precision and thought than you think.

I have a nice surprise for you.
Giuliano Hazan and his darling, smart wife, Lael allowed me to interview them. I will post the interview this week, and you don’t want to miss it. Giuliano shared five essential ingredients in an Italian kitchen and it will surprise you.

Recipe for Pan Roasted Lamb with Juniper Berries

(adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classical Cooking)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 3-4 inch pieces, with the bone in.
• 1 tablespoon chopped carrot
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped celery
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 garlic cloves, mashed lightly with a knife handle, the skin removed
• A sprig of fresh rosemary
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lightly crushed, juniper berries
• Salt
• Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill

Instructions

1. Choose a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron pot that will contain all the ingredients. Put all the ingredients in to it, cover the pot, and turn the heat on to medium low. Turn the lamb pieces over about twice an hour.

2. After 2 hours, the ingredients should have shed a considerable amount of juice. Set the pot’s cover on slightly ajar, and continue cooking at slightly higher heat. Turn the meat from time to time. Ager an hour and a half more, the lamb should feel tender when prodded with a fork. If there is still too much liquid in the pot, uncover, raise the heat and reduce it to a less runny consistency. Taste the meat and correct for salt.

1. Tip the pot and spoon off as much of the liquified lamb fat as you can. Transfer the entire contents of the pot to a warm platter and serve at once.

Potatoes

• 1 pounds yukon golds, peeled, sliced thin
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt, Fresh Pepper

1. Toss potatoes and mushroom in garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Arrange in layers on parchment paper or stone bakeware.
3. Layer mushrooms between potatoes.
4. Put pan in upper part of oven.
5. Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
6. Turn potatoes, bake five more minutes. You may need to make your own adjustments with timing

The post Cooking Italy: Pan Roasted Lamb with Juniper Berries appeared first on Spinach Tiger.