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lamb dishes

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lamb dishes

Postby Gillthepainter » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:21 am

I don't really buy it.
Tony had a thing about it being fatty, back in the day, and as such, I don't even have a recipe in my repertoire for it.
I have 2 leg o' lamb big meals that I might dig out at Easter for example.
But want to expand that shopping choice from chicken, pork, fish. Occasionally beef. To include lamb.

My first ever family fine dining meal 3 decades ago was lamb noisettes in tarragon.
I lived in Scotland, with a huge kitchen & stable doors that backed onto a field and hills (now a housing estate dwells on it). We sat in the garden sunshine, it was a perfect not-restaurant day.

I have a great moussaka recipe that didn't wow my OH, but it is excellent.

Any lamb dishes you simply love to make?
Or recipes you'd thought of trying but haven't got round to.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:31 am

My go-to lamb recipe is a very posh version of Lancashire Hot Pot by the much missed cookery writer Michael Smith. It’s from a Sainsbury’s book published way back and is absolutely delicious. It uses very lean neck fillet and is in no way fatty. I think the recipe is on the PC and at present I’m in bed with the iPad. I’ll try and dig it out later because whenever I’ve made it for anyone they love it. And yes, of course it has pearl barley. :clap :clap :clap
Last edited by Pepper Pig on Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Gillthepainter » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:34 am

PP, I was brought up on pearl barley, and love it.
You rarely see it as an ingredient I feel, where lentils and dried peas are pretty popular.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:04 am

Mods, please remove if you think this breaches copyright. It is a precis though. I promise it tastes nicer than it looks.

Michael Smith’s Lancashire Hotpot

2lbs lamb fillet
24 trimmed and peeled baby onions
3 stalks celery
2 tbs olive oil
18 button mushrooms
1 oz Pearl Barley
1/4 pint dry white wine
3/4 pint chicken stock
salt and pepper
6 large potatoes
1 oz butter
Chop lamb into biggish chunks and fry to seal. Drain well and put in casserole. Brown onions over high heat, add more oil if necessary and fry celery, mushrooms and barley. Pour off excess oil and add everything else to the pot. Deglaze pan with wine then add wine and stock to pot too. Season. Peel and finely slice potatoes. Arrange in overlapping circles on top of everything else. Brush top with melted butter and season. Cover with lid or foil and cook at Gas Mk 3 (325F, 160C) for 1 1/2 hours. Remove lid. Turn up temp to Gas 5, 375F, 190C and cook the hotpot for a further 50-60 mins or until golden brown.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:17 am

That looks good PP.

I think that lamb can either be scrumptious or vile. It lends itself to recipes where it is well browned IMO and is sometimes a bit too 'lamby' in casseroles and things concocted from leftover roasts.

You've reminded me of the 'crumbed cutlets' we did at school which were lovely and a firm favourite for years afterwards (just lamb cutlets egged, bread crumbed and fried). I like lamb koftas too accompanied by the usual delicious things. Even rolled and stuffed shoulder doesn't need to be fatty if you trim much of the fat and cook it long and slowly. Lamb shanks are delicious too despite being over popularised in recent years.

I too love pearl barley. Its a grain rather than a pulse but one which should be used much more!

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Suelle » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:20 am

I used to make this a lot when the family was all at home. Not so much now as it's not easy to scale down.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/greek-lamb-orzo

If you google the recipe there are versions which use different spices, add olives and/or use Greek cheese, and also other cuts of meat, including shanks.

As an aside, I've also made it with pork and that's just as good!
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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Gruney2 » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:50 am

I'm mad on kapuska, at the moment - it involves lamb mince. I've been rhapsodising over it to my daughter, who doesn't eat meat, and she really wants me to make it for her, using Quorn mince. I'm up for it, but fear it may be a little bland - any ideas, please?

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Suffs » Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:04 am

We often have a very similar Hot Pot to PepperPig’s ... usually using neck of lamb on the bone, sometimes neck fillet
... and yes ... we use pearl barley of course :yum

Another favourite here is a meal of two Barnsley chops, cooked on a ridged griddle on the hob, rested and served pink with new potatoes and purple sprouting or tender stem broccoli and a mint gravy. A wonderful ‘special’ meal for two on a Sunday.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Suelle » Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:05 am

Gruney2 wrote:I'm mad on kapuska, at the moment - it involves lamb mince. I've been rhapsodising over it to my daughter, who doesn't eat meat, and she really wants me to make it for her, using Quorn mince. I'm up for it, but fear it may be a little bland - any ideas, please?


I had to google that - it sounds very tasty! If the recipe you use has similar spices and ingredients to the recipes I looked at, I'm sure it will be fine using Quorn. I find a dash of soy sauce often works wonders for blandness, as long as the dish will take the extra salt.
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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:06 am

I don’t know how many of you receive Lindsey Bareham’s daily recipe but this has just popped into my Inbox and looks worth a try.

http://www.lindseybareham.com/lamb-spin ... otato-pie/

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:10 am

PS! A very good friend of mine who is evangelical about lamb and who would eat three lamb meals a day given the choice was telling me last night that lamb prices are sky high at the moment.My shopping is so limited I have no idea whether or not this is correct.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Gruney2 » Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:44 am

Suelle wrote:I had to google that - it sounds very tasty! If the recipe you use has similar spices and ingredients to the recipes I looked at, I'm sure it will be fine using Quorn. I find a dash of soy sauce often works wonders for blandness, as long as the dish will take the extra salt.


Thanks Sue.

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:45 am

I love lamb, it certainly my favourite of the red meats

Because it’s slightly sweet and has the fat it carries the flavours of herbs and spices very well, and lamb, or mutton, would be my choice for a curry

The last lamb curry I made was Mamta’s do pyaza with onions, it’s delicious but I did clarify that you you are meant to pour all the marinade in when you “fry” the meat (I think in fact 2 cups of yogurt to 500g meat might be slightly excessive). She has a number of other lamb curries too
https://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_di ... p?id=10357

My other favourite is a Reza Mahammad curry with whole peppercorns whic was on line but I can’t find it now

Also the meat of choice for grilling and barbecuing, it’s the meat of Turkey and the Middle East so all sorts of kebabs and marinated chops etc - a marinade can be a complicated mixture based on yogurt or wine, or just a bit of evoo, oregano, garlic and a squeeze of lemon. The perfect cut for a kebab is the neck fillet; there’s not a lot of neck on each lamb so most lamb fillet is shoulder, which is also good but not as tender and needs slower, gentler cooking; important to be sure which you have.

Lamb seems to have an affinity with aubergines so I like stuffed aubergines as well as moussaka

And not forgetting shepherd’s pie

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Suelle » Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:04 pm

Pepper Pig wrote:PS! A very good friend of mine who is evangelical about lamb and who would eat three lamb meals a day given the choice was telling me last night that lamb prices are sky high at the moment.My shopping is so limited I have no idea whether or not this is correct.


It's expensive by my usual spending standards, and comparing cuts, like for like, with beef or pork where possible.

I haven't bought lamb since mid-December when I put a shoulder of lamb in the freezer (it was on special offer) ready for a long-awaited Christmas meal which then couldn't take place. It doesn't look like Easter will be possible either.
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Re: lamb dishes

Postby mistakened » Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:16 pm

I have a problem getting decent lamb as the butchers will hack it up for kleftico. Because of the lamb is butchered we cannot get lamb fillet but some of the local butcher will do "English Lamb", a leg of lamb. I usually get it butterflied, then freeze it in manageable portions. I love slow roasted lamb.
The are some N Z lamb shanks in the freezer, I braise those according to a Nigella recipe that thickens the sauce with red lentils

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Busybee » Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:19 pm

Yes, lamb is very expensive at the moment.

It’s also my favourite meat, lamb hot pot - similar to PP’s minus the mushrooms and a big fat yes to Pearl barley, marinated chops, kebabs anything Turkish through to Middle Eastern.

Slow cooked lamb shanks, a winter favourite.

I always used to buy at least one whole lamb a year, sometimes two from a friend who reared them. Since moving here and no chest freezer I’ve had to forgo the pleasure.

Our butcher does a wonderful lamb and vegetable pie which is a fairly dryish mix in shortcrust pastry and includes cannellini beans :yum

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby karadekoolaid » Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:43 pm

Lamb rarely makes an appearance in our household, but I have been asked to cook either roast lamb ( which I do with tha aid of a meat thermometer) or lamb curry.
This particular lamb curry went down a treat at a wedding reception a few years back.
https://sites.google.com/site/nikandedwinascookbook/Home/meat/elaichi-gosht-beef-and-cardamom-curry

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby jeral » Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:12 pm

Grilled (on a rack) koftas using raw lamb mince or cooked meat blitzed to smooth with flavourings. Or cooked lamb leg cut up small in a pilaf with orange, lemon, walnuts and a lot of etceteras. Lamb and apricots is good, either as a casserole or apricots as a stuffing in rolled up boneless leg or breast.

I can't stand the smell of lamb especially mince cooking unless I fry up some onion with cumin first which makes it a whole different ball game :thumbsup

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Re: lamb dishes

Postby Seatallan » Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:37 pm

I'm with Suffs on Barnsley Chops. I like them griddled, with crusty bread and a tomato, red pepper, red onion & black olive salad on the side. What we also love is local (Solway coast) salt-marsh lamb when it is in season. It's just wonderful, especially with samphire and baby spuds. :yum

I adore a classic roast leg of lamb with plenty of garlic too....
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Re: lamb dishes

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:45 pm

We're very keen on Claudia Roden's Lamb and Apricot Tagine from Arabesque, which is lovely with the addition of fried blanched almonds.

It takes us back to our first microwave that we got some 30-35 years ago, as in the recipe book that came with it there was a lamb, apricot and almond stew, cooked entirely in the microwave. It was delicious! In the various moves since then the book has disappeared but we still talk about the dish fondly!

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