Lamb | I Can Cook That

Lamb Burgers with Feta-Mint Spread and Sweet Potato Fries

I’ve been in a bit of a cooking rut recently; I’ve had a difficult time figuring out what new recipes I want to try. Luckily, Cooking Light always has some inspiration for me. This time, it came in the form of a lamb burger.

This lamb burger recipe is actually half lamb/half beef and is really simple to make. I also made sweet potato fries as a side, super delicious!

Ingredients:

Burgers:
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
8 ounces lean ground lamb
8 ounces 90% lean ground sirloin
Cooking spray
4 hamburger buns
1/4 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup baby arugula

Fries:
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Continue reading Lamb Burgers with Feta-Mint Spread and Sweet Potato Fries

Grilled Saffron Rack of Lamb

I love the flavor that grilling adds to a recipe but I struggle with grilling protein to the correct temperature. This means we sometimes end up with dry, chewy and overcooked food or, even worse, super rare/raw meat.

Luckily, Verizon Wireless’ Philadelphia Tri-State Region team gave me the opportunity to try out an iGrill thermometer that not only displays the temperature, but also uses Verizon’s LTE 4G network to send me an alert when my protein has reached the temperature I want!

I was so excited about this product that I decided to really test it out and used it on a pretty finicky meat: lamb. Lamb is a protein that should be cooked to medium rare and not much more. It gets really tough and chewy if overcooked. It’s pretty easy to overcook as well; lamb continues to cook after being removed from heat so it has to be removed before reaching the ideal internal temperature for medium rare. Plus, it’s a pretty expensive meat so you want it to be perfect!

I found this recipe for Grilled Saffron Rack of Lamb on Bon Appetit. The recipe includes temperature guides to help cook the lamb to a perfect medium-rare.

The iGrill Thermometer takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process. The thermometer comes with two probes so you can track the temperature of two meats at the same time. You just insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat (not touching a bone). The thermometer pairs with your phone through Bluetooth. Using the iGrill app on your smartphone, you can set a temperature or a timer to alert you when your meat is finished cooking. Pretty nifty, right?

Ingredients:

2 racks of lamb, rib bones frenched
salt and pepper, to taste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup plain 0% Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
the zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, finely crumbled

note: “Frenched rib bones” means that the meat has been cut away from the end of the rib so that part of the bone is exposed

Continue reading Grilled Saffron Rack of Lamb

Mediterranean Stuffed Mini Peppers

I am less than one month away from attending Eat Write Retreat in Philadelphia and am getting so excited for it! Not only is the lineup awesome, but I get to meet a ton of other bloggers, what could be better? As we get closer to the big weekend, the attendees were sent a secret ingredient and were asked to try to incorporate into an appetizer recipe. I received California raisins, which people tend to think of more for sweet foods, but play off savory dishes oh so well. It goes without saying that I haven’t been able to get California Raisins’ classic commercial out of my head since I received them! OXO generously also sent us a few spiffy tools to help create our recipe; I can never have enough of their products!

Raisins are a great addition to a meal to add some sweetness without any added sugar. The dried fruit is loaded with antioxidants and fiber while being fat free and cholesterol free. Did you know that one serving of raisins (just 1/4 cup) has more potassium than a banana?

I have a friend that absolutely raves about Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers that her grandmother used to make for her, with rice, nuts, spices, and golden raisins. I decided to make an appetizer version, using mini sweet peppers. My version of these Mediterranean Stuffed Mini Peppers are stuffed with a lamb-farro mixture that includes tomatoes, raisins, pine nuts, and a touch of lemon zest (using my new snazzy OXO zester (paid link)). The peppers are then topped with feta cheese and broiled to make this recipe for Mediterranean Stuffed Mini Peppers!

Ingredients (serves 8):

16 mini sweet peppers, seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped (no more than ½ cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ lb ground lamb
2/3 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
the zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons golden raisins
2 teaspoons raisins
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
½ cup cooked farro – I used Tuscan Fields vegetable farro
¼ cup Feta, or to taste

Continue reading Mediterranean Stuffed Mini Peppers

Badenjan Chalow

This month, Pomi asked that I try to create a recipe using one of their tomatoes paired with eggplant. I have been craving my favorite Afghan meal from a restaurant in Philadelphia called Ariana so my mind went immediately to trying to replicate it. The meal, Badenjan Chalow, is a lamb dish with eggplant, cooked with tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices served over basmati rice.

Pomi’s strained tomatoes are perfect for this recipe. Although I’d love to put this in a slow cooker and let it cook all day, I wanted to make this weeknight meal friendly.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked basmati rice
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 eggplant, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 lb lamb chunks
1 container Pomi strained tomatoes

Continue reading Badenjan Chalow

Goat Cheese Stuffed Lamb Burgers

Oh yes, you read that correctly. A delicious grilled lamb burger, with goat cheese inside. I have been craving Goat Cheese Stuffed Lamb Burgers for a good week now and finally managed to find ground lamb (which was surprisingly difficult for some reason) to make them. I used a recipe off of Finish Your Broccoli‘s blog that she made a while back to make the actual burger. I took some liberty in making it but for the most part it’s basically the same.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground lamb
3 tbsp plain yogurt
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp minced fresh mint
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch cayenne
4 oz log goat cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped basil
Tzatziki
Sliced cucumber
Pita bread or hamburger buns, toasted

Add the ground lamb, plain yogurt, panko, mint, salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne to a large bowl.

Mix to combine.

Add the goat cheese, olive oil, parsley, and basil to a small bowl.

Mix to combine.

Take the meat mixture and divide it evenly into four patties.

Make a well in each patty and add an equal amount of the cheese mixture into each well.

Form the meat patty around the cheese mixture.

Heat a grill pan (or grill) and cook the burger to your liking. Because they are so thick, you might need to cook them long and slow.

Grill the hamburger buns or pita bread.

Top the burger with tzatziki and sliced cucumber.

And there you have it!

You bite in and get a really delicious, moist burger.

With a flavorful, gooey center.

Mmmm.

This is EXACTLY what I was craving. And it’s really quick! What more could you ask for?

Lamb Wraps with Tzatziki Sauce

I love a good gyro. I never considered even trying to make one because, this may come as a surprise, but I don’t have a spit in my tiny apartment. I know, a huge oversight. So I was really excited to find this recipe for Lamb Wraps with Tzatziki Sauce, (no spit required), especially because it takes 25 minutes to make. Woo hoo! (If I haven’t convinced you to pick up the Cooking Light Fresh Foods Superfast cookbook yet, you must not be reading my posts this week).