Lamb & Guinness Shepherd's Pie

Minced lamb and vegetables cooked in a Guinness sauce and topped with mashed potatoes.  Perfect for a St. Patrick's Day dinner.

This is yet another dish I made from leftover Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb.  That lamb roast served me very well.  You could easily substitute ground lamb in this recipe too.  I blitzed my leftover, roughly chopped, lamb in the food processor to give me minced lamb, added vegetables and Guinness for this incredibly flavorful and hardy meat pie.  It's not totally traditional shepherd's pie because I have it in a pie shell, but I had one in the freezer and didn't feel like dirtying a dish so I used it.  Traditional or not it was delicious.  I loved the crispy pie crust bottom with the creamy potato top.  And the filling.  Did I mention there's Guinness in it?  The stout gives it this a deep, rich, meatier flavor that is unparalleled.

Did I mention there's #Guinness in it? [Tweet this]

Lamb & Guinness Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
2 red potatoes, blanched and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 small carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup frozen peas
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup Guinness
2 cups minced lamb (I just minced leftover Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb, but you could use cooked ground lamb as well)
Few dashed rosemary
5-6 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Frozen pie crust (9 inch deep dish), optional
2-3 cups mashed potatoes

Preheat oven to 425F

In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onions, potatoes, celery, and carrots.  Season with salt and pepper then cook, until everything is softened.

Add the garlic and cook for just a few seconds until fragrant.

Add the frozen peas and allow to warm for about a minute.  Then add the flour.

Stir and mix well with the vegetables and melted butter making a roux.

Stir and cook until flour mixture starts to brown then add the Guinness, lamb, and rosemary.

Continue stirring until mixture comes to low boil, lower the heat and simmer until the Guinness has thickened (this isn't a very saucy mixture it's pretty thick but if you would like it thinner add more Guinness or water).

Stir in the Worcestershire sauce.  Taste for seasoning and add whatever you think it needs.

Fill a pie crust (follow pie crust directions) or casserole dish with the meat mixture, top with mashed potatoes (that are seasoned to your preference) and bake.

Bake in a preheated oven at 425F for about 25 minutes or until potatoes start to brown.

Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving.  Serve with sides of your choice.  I served it with Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots and Sauteed Kale (I'll post these recipes soon). Oh, and don't forget a Guinness to wash it down.

Makes 6 servings.

Enjoy.

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Greek Nachos

Nachos with a Greek twist.  Pita chips topped with lamb, olives, tomatoes, and feta.

I've had this idea in the back of my mind for a while.  When I cooked Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb and had so much left over I finally had the most important component of this dish.  The goal was to make this as much like regular nachos as possible but with a Greek or Mediterranean twist.  Instead of tortilla chips I used pita chips.  Instead of cheddar or Mexican blend cheese I used feta (and a little monterey jack cheese to hold things together). I used lamb, red onions, tomatoes, and olives and topped it all with a dollop of Tzatziki instead of sour cream or guacamole.  It was fantastic.  If you like Greek/Mediterranean dishes this is a different take on nachos that you will love.  These nachos make a great snack or dinner.

Greek Nachos

Ingredients:

Pita chips
Monterey jack cheese
Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb, chopped (or any kind of lamb)
Red onion, sliced
Tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Olive slices
Feta crumbles
Tzatziki

Spread a single layer of chips on the bottom of a baking pan.

Top the chips with a thin layer of monterey jack cheese.  Then add  some lamb, onions, tomatoes, and olives.  Top with feta and another layer of chips.  Repeat this step once or twice.

Bake the nachos at 300F for 15-20 minutes then broil until the top layer of cheese is melted (feta doesn't melt but the monterey does).

Remove from oven and top with a large dollop of Tzatzikki.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Snickerdoodle, 2 Cup, Lou Lou Girls, Teach Me, Wonderful Wed, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends

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Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb

Delicious lamb leg roast seasoned with herbs and spices.  Makes a great holiday, or romantic, dinner.

I don't care much about Valentines day (except the cute stuffed animal my dad sends every year).   This year I'm more excited about Friday The 13th.  Yep that's today.

I love Friday the 13th's.  I'm a big horror movie fan so Friday the 13th is all about Jason Voorhees.  If I can find any of the movies (I wish I owned them all) it's marathon time.  If not any horror movie will do.  What could go better with a slasher movie marathon than a bloody leg (of lamb).  It's really not that bloody it's about medium rare and oh so good.  This could easily be a romantic dinner too if that's your thing.  But I say turn out the lights and fire up the scary movies.

This was my first time cooking leg of lamb so I googled for instructions.  I found many and used a little bit of all to make this roast.  Most of the recipes I found said to bake in a roasting pan.  I don't have one so I just put it in my largest/deepest baking pan with potatoes and carrots lining the bottom (an easy and delicious side dish).  One of the recipes I really liked suggested broiling the roast on both sides to sear it but the broiler on my oven doesn't work so I just roasted it at a high temperature to start then lowered the heat for the rest of the cooking.

Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb

Ingredients:

1 5 pound semi-boneless leg of lamb
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp coarse ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450F

Remove lamb from fridge at least 1 hour before you plan to roast it.

Chop some potatoes and carrots into bite sized pieces, toss in olive oil and spices of choosing (salt, pepper, garlic, thyme).  Place in bottom of your largest baking pan (I used a glass 9x13).

Rinse the lamb and pat dry.  Then, rub all over with the spice mix and place in baking pan on top of the veggies.

Bake in a preheated oven at 450F for 15 minutes.  Then lower the temperature to 325F and continue baking for about 1 hour and 45 minutes or until the roast reaches 130F for medium rare.

Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.  Serves a lot. 8 or 10 maybe.  We ate it plain a few nights, then I made some other dishes with it.

Serve with those roasted potatoes and carrots, mint jelly if you have it, or I served it with tzatziki.

Enjoy (stay tuned to see what else I made with the lamb).

For ways to use leftovers check out:  Greek Nachos, Lamb Salad, and Lamb & Guinness Shepherds Pie

Linked to:  Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Merry Monday, 2 Cup, Lou Lou Girls, Teach Me,Tasty, Whimsy, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Foodie Friends

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Lamb Shanks

Lamb shanks cooked until tender with mushrooms and onions in a red wine sauce.  A simple entree that will impress.

My husband loves lamb.  I had never had lamb until I met him and I just recently tried cooking it for the first time.  Lamb can be kind of expensive so I only pick it up when I have a coupon or it's on sale (or both).  So I had these lamb shanks that I wasn't sure what to do with.  I knew that they required a lot of cooking time but I didn't want anything too difficult.  Of course I went to the internet to figure out how it should be done (how did people cook before the internet ;)).  There I found many recipes and learned the basic method for cooking a good lamb shank, braising.  This is a combination recipe of what I liked about some of the recipes minus what I didn't like.  Even though it cooks for a long time I thought it was pretty simple.  No complicated ingredients or procedures and only a little work then you just let it cook.  My husband was happy and I wasn't tired.  He even said it felt like a special occasion because he usually only gets delicious lamb shanks at restaurants.  So if you have the time try this recipe lamb lovers will love it.

I also wonder if this is something you could do in a slow cooker.  I was only cooking for 2 and we have a gigantic slow cooker so it would have been over kill to drag it out...but maybe if cooking for a crowd.  Although, I think braised lamb shanks are a perfect romantic dinner for two.

Lamb Shanks

Ingredients:

2 lamb shanks
1-2 Tbsp oil
1 onion, sliced
10-20 mushrooms, halved or quartered
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup red wine
1 14.5 oz can chicken broth
thyme
rosemary
1 bay leaf
a few cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
salt and pepper to taste

Season the shanks all over with salt and pepper.  Then brown them on all sides over medium high heat with a little oil. (I used a cast iron skillet but any skillet would be fine).

Remove the shanks from the pan and set aside.  Drain the oil.

Add a little fresh oil back to the pan then saute the mushrooms and onions until slightly softened (salt and pepper to taste).  Add the tomatoes and cook until soft.

Add the red wine and allow it to reduce by half then add the herbs and garlic.  Put the shanks back in the pan and pour in enough chicken broth to cover them by half.  Bring to a boil then cover and lower temperature to a bare simmer.  Allow to gently simmer for 3 hours adding more broth if it gets too low.

Alternately you can move the skillet into a 325 F oven and cook for 3 hours.

Taste for seasoning then serve shanks with the mushrooms and onions and your choice of vegetable.

Makes 2 servings.  Enjoy.

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper, Share it Sunday, See Ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, Merry Monday, Two Cup, Lou Lou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About It, Whimsy Wednesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Freedom Friday, Eat Create Party

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Spiced Lamb and Hummus

Ground lamb cooked with Mediterranean spices and served atop hummus.

I saw this recipe about a year ago on The View from the Great Island.  Her recipe used cubed lamb and a Mediterranean spice blend and made my mouth water (did I mention that the pictures are awesome).  I love Mediterranean style foods so I pinned the recipe and knew I would eventually try it.

Well, lamb is pretty expensive out here and my usual store has a small selection so this recipe stayed in the back of my mind until my husband found some ground lamb on sale and brought it home.  I initially didn't know what to do with the ground lamb (I was thinking lamb burgers or something) because I was waiting for some kind of lamb roast to cube like the original recipe.  Finally, it just clicked that I could use ground lamb instead. I'm so glad I didn't wait for a lamb roast this was so delicious.  It has amazing flavor and is actually pretty light.  I served the lamb and hummus with pita, broccoli, and a carrot and cucumber salad.  It was great to just scoop some of the lamb and hummus with pitta or my favorite a cucumber slice.  I can't wait until ground lamb is on sale again.

Spiced Lamb and Hummus

Ingredients:
Modified from Hummus with Spiced Lamb | The View from the Great Island

2 Tbsp Mediterranean spice mix:
     2 tsp paprika
     1 tsp allspice
     1 tsp garam masala (optional)
     1 tsp coriander
     1/4 tsp cumin
     1/4 tsp cinnamon
     1/4 tsp turmeric
     1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1 pound ground lamb
Juice of 1 lemon
Hummus
Toasted sliced almonds
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

In a large frying pan cook the ground lamb over medium heat.  Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of the spice mix on the raw meat and add a little salt and pepper.

When meat has browned pour off excess grease and taste for seasoning.  Add more spice mix if necessary and squeeze in lemon juice.

To serve dollop 1-2 Tbsp of hummus on the center of a large plate.  Smooth, with the back of a spoon, into a wider circle that is thinner in the center.  Place 1/4 lamb mixture on top of the hummus and sprinkle with sliced almonds.  Lastly drizzle on some olive oil.

Serve with pitta, vegetable, and/or salad.

Serves 4

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Two Cup Tuesday, Teach Me, Lou Lou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About it, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Full Plate, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Saturday Night Fever, Share it Sunday, See Ya in the Gumbo, Merry Monday




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Breaded Lamb Chops

Broiled lamb chops with a seasoned bread crumb crust

Before my husband left for  his 2 month work trip I made him a good dinner.  Hubby always complains about not having good home cooked meals and eating out too much while away so I always try to do something special before he leaves and when he gets back.  He loves lamb and when ever I see it on sale I pick it up so I had some lamb chops.  Lamb is somewhat intimidating for me because I never grew up eating it, and I don't have the chance to cook it often.  My idea was to make breaded lamb chops similar to the shake-n-bake pork chops I grew up eating. I made fresh bread crumbs from the end of my Ricotta Bread loaf, added some spices and covered the lamb chops with it.  The method of cooking the chops I found online, I just googled 'how to cook lamb chops' and found plenty of ideas so I chose to broil them.


Ingredients:

1 cup bread crumbs or left over bread
pinch of salt and pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp minced onion
2 lamb chops (about 1 inch thick)
pinch salt and pepper
4 tsp Dijon mustard


Cut the bread into cubes and pulse in a blender to make crumbs.  Add salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, garlic, and onion, pulse a few more times to help chop and mix in the herbs.

Meanwhile, allow lamb chops to sit out at room temperature for at least 1 hour so the chops are no longer cold.  Season chops (one side at a time) with salt and pepper then brush with 1 tsp of mustard (per chop, per side) and sprinkle on the bread crumbs, press to adhere. Do the same on the other side.

Place chops in a baking pan and broil about 3 inches from the heat element for about 10 minutes per side.  (I used the toaster oven so the time may be different for a conventional oven).  Let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.  Serves 2.  I served the chops on top of barley with roasted Brussels sprouts on the side (I just recently found out that it is Brussels--as in Brussels, Belgium--sprouts not brussel sprouts).  Enjoy.

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