Lamb

Fridge Diving – Lamb Cutlets

A few days ago, we had some delicious, roasted lamb cutlets totally covered in garlic and rosemary.

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After a wonderful dinner there were some cutlets left over which meant I would be having lamb cutlets for lunch at work.

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For some reason they got forgotten, so today cleaning out the fridge I came across the forgotten tupperware container 🙂 with the lonely 4 lamb cutlets. I had also come across a small amount of pizza dough from sometime during the week……

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I decided to go way out of the box  and started off by chopping up the meat into small pieces.

I rolled out my pizza dough and put it in the oven till it was nice and golden.

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Took the pizza dough out of the oven and gave it a nice brushing with some mint/basil homemade pesto sauce. Can you see the theme building up, mint and lamb?

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Then I topped the pesto with the chopped lamb, some chopped rosemary and banana peppers and topped it all off with some fresh mozzarella.

Into the oven it went again until the mozzarella was nicely melted and the crust was nice and crispy and voila! We now had a Lamb and Mint Pizza 🙂

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I have to say that the husband did not like the idea of a “Lamb” Pizza so I had to rename it to a Lamb Flatbread!

 

Lamb Lovers

Lamb, what can I say. This is the one meat that my family cannot get enough of.

It’s for sure our favourite meat for all occasions. During the holidays everyone has turkey, we have a lovely roasted leg of lamb full off garlic, rosemary and lemon, we love lamb curry (korma, rogan josh, masala), lamb kebabs, lamb steaks, lamb ribs norwegian style (Pinnekjott), FenalĂĄr (norwegian salted dried cured leg of lamb) the list goes on and on.

Tonight we are having lamb meatballs. Each little meatball is bursting with  flavour which makes each bite, the best bite ever 🙂

Coming from an Italian/Belgium family, you would have thought that I would love a good Italian meatball, but for some reason, I never really liked them….. I guess its just a matter of taste. But give me an Asian style, Middle Eastern Style, Greek, Turkish meatball and then you’ve got my attention!

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To make my meatballs today I used the following ingredients:

  • juice of half lemon
  • 1lb lamb mince
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • a handful of fresh coriander leaves (washed and chopped)
  • 4  garlic cloves
  • 2 chai red chilies
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp garam masala
  • 2 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tsp salt

Now the simple part. First mix the mince lamb with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and put it to the side. In a food processor, blend the rest of the ingredients till you get a nice runny paste.

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Add paste to the lamb and mix until everything has blended in nicely. Then roll into small size meatballs, brush with a little bit of olive oil and grill for 5 minutes on each side. Today I used the broiler on high instead of grilling and they turned out very nice.

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And there we have it, another dinner is served, this time round I served the Lamb Meatballs with a lovely blend of Quinoa and Brown rice, seasoned with cilantro and lemon ❤

Sunday Dinner becomes Thai Green Curry!

Well, having thoroughly enjoying our Sunday Dinner of roasted Lamb with Scalloped potatoes and Broccoli yesterday and having had some more for lunch, its now time to convert the left overs into tonights “NEW” dinner!

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Started off by chopping up some onions, sautĂ©ing them with some green curry paste and some Kaffir Lime Leaves….

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Then I poured in a can of Coconut Milk and let it simmer

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whilst I chopped up the leftover lamb.

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Added the lamb and broccoli to the simmering mixture, put on a lid, turned it to low and let it cook away. I know you are supposed to cook a good curry by starting with the raw meat so it absorbs all the flavors, but under the repurposing circumstances, this method is allowed and turns out pretty good if I may say so 🙂

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In the meantime I prepared some Jasmine rice which I seasoned with salt of course and a touch of cloves.

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Within 30 minutes of starting, dinner was nearly ready. Just letting it rest for a few minutes before I allow my little family to dig in ❤

Florida Hidden Treasures

Some great friends invited me out to dinner tonight to this little wonderful hidden German little treasure! It’s amazing that I only live 4.1 miles away from it and in the 18 yrs I have lived in South Florida I have never even known of its existence!

This little German treasure is called the “Old Heidelberg Restaurant”!

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Not only was the atmosphere amazing, but the music, service and food were just wonderful!

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If you would like to have a no rush, nice relaxing meal with that homey feeling, this is the place to go for sure.

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There was dancing, live music, staff is friendly and bubbly and you find yourself singing along to every song as you enjoy your meal! They also had a beer holding competition which had everyone cheering for the one lady of course!

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We were a group of 8 people and I think we covered the menu pretty well.

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We ordered a few appetizer to share which consisted of the Sausage Sample platter, Norwegian Smoked Salmon and Herrings in Cream sauce.

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Then it was time for the soup or salad followed by the  main courses which by then we were kind of full but what can I say, we still ate most of it! lol

I had the most delicious homemade Pumpkin soup which I have to say was like having pumpkin pie in a soup, totally to die for!

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There was some spectacular Pork Shanks

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A delicious Bavarian Veal Schnitzel

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Some to die for Lamb Chops Hubertus

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Of course someone ordered the Jaeger Schintzel

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And last but not least was the meat lover plate which was polished off by one hungry guy so I didn’t manage to get a picture of it 🙂 Bad bad Kev ❤

Of course most of us didn’t finish our dinner so guess what? I for sure will have another taste of this fab german meal tomorrow for lunch!

We finished the evening off with a lovely Latte which was the perfect final touch to a great evening with great friends.

jager-shotsDid I mention there were also a few Jaeger Meister shots followed by the usual Norwegian Drinking song ❤

All that is left to say and Cheers and Geir and Reija, you were missed 🙂

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Lamb Kebabs and Tzatziki Sauce

Tonight I was in the mood for a little Middle Eastern food mixed with a little bit of  Greek.  Sounded like the perfect combination 🙂

For the Lamb Kebabs I used:

  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1lb lamb mince
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 2oz fresh chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
  • 4 cloves garlic chopped up
  • 4 green chillies de-seeded and chopped
  • ½ tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp black peppercorns (crushed)
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp powdered ginger or 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
  • 1 tsp salt

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I started off mixing my minced lamb and lemon juice and put that to the side.

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Then I added the rest of the ingredients to my mini food processor and whizzed away until they were nicely blended and then added that concoction to my lamb.

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Out came the skewers and with wet hands I skewered the meat into long sausage shapes. Rotate the meat around the skewer, pressing gently all round and place on a baking pan. Brush each kebab lightly with some oil.

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These of course can be grilled on a BBQ or cooked in the oven. I placed mine under the broiler in the oven on high setting for about 10 minutes on each side.

Whilst they were cooking I stared working on my Tzatziki sauce.

For this I used:

  • 3 cups of greek yogurt
  • 3 tbs of lemon juice
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 large english cucumber (long and skinny ones)
  • 1/2 tbs chopped fresh mint
  • 1/2 tbs chopped fresh dill

Peel cucumber, remove seeds and cube, then place in food processor with the lemon juice, garlic, mint and dill and combine them together nicely. I then placed the mixture in a colander and squeezed all the excess water out of it.

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Add mixture to yogurt and add salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

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By now my kebabs were ready, I toasted some Smart Pockets (they are like a healthy version of Pita Bread, stuffed them with a few of the lamb kebabs, added some Tzatziki sauce and it was totally and utterly heavenly! The cooling and refreshing sauce worked wonders with the full flavored, slightly spicy kebabs ❤

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Leftovers Repurposing Time…….

Busy baking night and its time to make something for dinner in the midst of it all!

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Fridge finds consisted of:

  • 1 leftover breaded chicken cutlet from last night
  • 2 leftover helpings of last nights rice
  • 1 jalapeño pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • bunch of green onions (out of onions, that is soooo not right)
  • 1 lamb steak
  • 1 box of Pearled Couscous – Basil and Herb flavored
  • Fresh Rosemary

There wasn’t enough of anything to make enough for 2 of us (rest of the family not in tonight)!

So here is what I ended up with:

FOR MY SON:

Chopped up the Jalapeño Pepper, Garlic, Green Onions and Chicken cutlet, sautéed them lightly in a pan with a tad of olive oil, and then in went the rice!

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FOR ME:

Made the Couscous, chopped up the lamb steak, some garlic and rosemary and sautĂ©ed it in the pan previously used for the above. Once done, served it on the bed of Couscous…..plus a lovely dollop of mint jelly!

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Now back to baking………..and guess what, the weekend is nearly here!!!!!

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Braised Lamb……Mashed Rutabaga……It’s Family Time!

Dinner time at the Lundini’s can be very exciting. Tonight turned out to be a special  kind of night, its not everyday that we all mange to sit down and eat around the table at the same time!

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Today I prepared some Lamb Shanks braised for 3 hrs in port wine, mint, rosemary and garlic, with a side of Mashed Rutabaga (Swede), Parsnip Fries and of course we can’t forget the Mushy Peas. Of course these kind of dinners can only happen when you take a few days off, otherwise we would be eating at 11pm!

One of my hubby’s favorite dinners is a Norwegian dish called Pinnekjøtt which is lamb ribs and its usually eaten during Christmas time with Rutabaga (Swede), Potatoes, Beer and Aquavit! So it was kind of a special dinner to have as a family as it reminded us all of that special time of the year!

I quickly seared the shanks prior to them going into their bath of yumminess!

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Then took them out and added the port wine, herbs and garlic and let it reduce a bit, prior to putting the shanks back in, topped it with water to cover them and let them bubble away for 3 hours!

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Once time was up, I removed the shanks and let them rest, removed the garlic and reduced the juice for a final lovely rich gravy to go with the Rutabaga Mash!

Whilst the lamb was cooking I made the Rutabaga Mash, made the Parsnip fries and warmed up the Mushy Peas.

Dinner is served, or should I say dinner is gone, hours of dedicated cooking and its all gone in a flash! Pleased to say that the family approved and enjoying it inmensly!

That is the biggest satisfaction, making everyone happy with my food!

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