Garlicky lamb meatball soup with Cranberry Beans

First time I try these fresh Romano beans, or cranberry beans, and boy are they gorgeous!
I think these fresh beans are becoming one of my favourite things, this year I've taken every opportunity to scoop up fresh fava beans anywhere I find them. There is nothing easier and more delicious when you can just shell them, lightly boil them and then add them to recipes or just mash them up with a bit of fresh garlic, drizzle of GOOD olive oil and squeeze of fresh lemon juice... on toast or just eat it with a spoon!

With these beans I wanted to do something more hearty and warm so it's lamb meatball soup today. Mini summer lamb meatballs in a garlicky chicken broth with romano beans and tiny pastas.


Start by shelling your romano/cranberry beans and boil them for 15-20 minutes or until tender in a smalls saucepan of water. Add salt half way through cooking. (if you prefer you could boil them in stock)

Start with the meatballs:

1 lb ground lamb

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, minced

zest of half a lemon

salt and black pepper

1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove smashed garlic

Blend it all together and form small balls. Fry the meatballs in olive oil in a large pot. They will stick so just let them be until they release themselves from the bottom of the pan, it's ok if you only brown one side.

Set the meatballs aside and in the oil used from frying the meatballs (you can remove some if there is too much) sautee the pasta noodles (toast them!) on medium high heat stirring constantly until they look toasty and golden.

Add your fresh garlic, soup cube and water. Cook until noodles are al dante.

Add meatballs to bowl, top with drained pasta and beans. Add fresh broth over (to avoid the soup looking murky unless you prefer to have some thickness them use the noodle broth)
 Top and garnish with fresh thyme. Enjoy!

30 Minute Lamb Platter

I love this spread because it comes together in less than 30 minutes!

Begin by adding boneless seasoned lamb leg to the grill, following instructions on package. Usually it involves keeping the heat guage to 375 F and placing the piece of meat fat side up. That's pretty much it! After about 17-24 minutes (depending on the size of the piece) it's ready!

- 1 cup couscous

-1 tbsp harissa evoo (Olive That!)

zest of half a lemon

Herbamare seasoning salt by A.Vogel 

Black pepper
Sundried tomato, chopped finely

Meanwhile add 1 cup couscous to a bowl, drizzle 1 tbsp harissa olive oil (or plain) and zest of 1/2 lemon overtop. Add the sundried tomato and herbamare seasoning, black pepper and a bit of sea salt.

Cover with 1 cup of boiling water and wrap top of bowl tightly with cling wrap. Set aside

Other ingredients: 

1/2 cup yellow cherry or grape tomatoes

1/2 cup red cherry or grape tomatoes 

More lemon zest

Fresh mint sprigs
Chives or green onon
sea salt

2 heaping tbsp chopped Roasted red pepper in olive oil - I make mine homemade and keep in fridge.

Once the meat is done, remove from the BBQ and rest it on a plate, cover/tent it with a piece of foil and allow to cool slightly and reabsorb all it's juices.

Fluff the couscous after removing the cling wrap. Spread couscous on a platter and top with roasted red pepper (a little here and there) 

Slice lamb into medium slices across the grain and top over couscous. 

Garnish with tomatoes, sprinkle lemon zest over meat and bit of sea salt. Add pieces of mint and chives or green onion.

Serve with mint tea and hummus!

Enjoy!

Easy Lamb Pie

One of my favourite recipes that I learned from my mum is to simple add raw spiced meat onto bread, be it a rustic spread out dough, already baked flatbread, or puffy pita, like the greek kind and I've been making these more and more because it's kind of a two step recipe with two ingredients and who doesn't love that!

You might have seen these mini pitas in early 2013 when I made these while my windows were being installed, I did a video on it too.
On busy weeknights I do a lot of flat open faced pitas where I put the spiced (its' much better with onion I think!) ground lamb or beef onto a pita and bake until the meat is done and the juices have soaked the bread beneath, it is so good!

This is a rough recipe to make your lamb "sausage" or spiced ground meat, it's better if you let it marinade in the fridge for at least a day

Raw ground lamb

Finely minced onion and garlic

Salt & Black pepper

Chopped mint

Lemon zest

Lemon juice

Arabic 7 spice (optional) 

Sumaq (optional) 

Focaccia breads

Cut the breads horizontally, either all the way through or leaving one side attached slightly

With a spoon stuff the raw ground spiced lamb into the bread and spread it out, keep it a nice even layer but be generous because meats shrink as they get cooked. 

Wrap the sandwiches in parchment lined foil and bake on 400 on the top shelf of the oven until the meat is done, you may need to flip them so one side of the bread doesn't get too crispy. 

There is enough fat in the lamb that you dont need any oil, if you're using beef then you may need some olive oil. 

The objective is just to get the meat cooked and the bread to stay soft.  

Remove from the oven and serve with a salad! 

Enjoy!

... more of my favourite things!

Food is such an amazing journey, and lately I've been experimenting and discovering many new things in the kitchen! 

Last night I made my first rack of lamb, I was terrified but kept it simple and boy was it such a hit! All I remember hearing chef Ramsay's voice in my head and trying to avoid those mistakes that I've seen too many times on Hell's kitchen. The picture of him grabbing a flimsy lamb chop and throwing it around or asking "Come here! What is this?"  was playing over and over in my mind.   

Lately another favourite food of mine is Lebnah,with all that leftover yogurt in my fridge from Ramadan I whipped up a huge batch!  During ramadan yogurt was on sale and in the flyer almost every week so I stocked up and would prepare a yogurt drink of creamy plain balkan style yogurt mixed with water and seasoned with a sprinkling of salt.  This was the perfect drink to enjoy with a delicious date at sunset when we break the fast. 

If you want to prepare your own lebneh then head over to my other posts on the subject, here 

The perfect accompaniment with lebneh is a nice generous drizzle of good olive oil and every day of this week I've used a different (plain) olive oil from Olive That! ... Tunisian, Spanish, Mission... What an amazing canvas to showcase the olive oils.  All you need is a sweet mint tea, a piece of fresh bread for dipping and some nice juicy watermelon.  This is is my ideal breakfast and it reminds me of my childhood back in the Middle East.

A couple of weekends ago I also got lucky and found myself a frozen free range organic turkey at the most amazing price! Being the impulsive person I can be I put my money down and walked out of the store with a box of two huge frozen turkeys... one I've thawed immediately for the weekend and the other I stashed in my freezer for the coming Eid celebration which falls practically around the same time as this year's Canadian Thanksgiving!

First time I've grilled an entire turkey on the BBQ but it was delicious, I really love the taste of turkey and these organic ones are not dry at all, especially if you brine them beforehand. 

A couple of stuffed zucchinis I made back in Ramadan.  These zucchini boats were stuffed with a spiced ground beef (you could do lamb) and then smothered in a creamy bechamel sauce with a bit of cheese.  Baked to perfection! 

Balsamic fruits are another easy dessert idea, and if you're in Ontario I highly recommend heading over to Olive That not only their selection of fabulous and fresh olive oils but also their flavoured balsamics.  I picked up a big bottle of 18 year old balsamic vinegar and love adding it to fruit. Strawberries and cherries roasted in the oven with a splash of balsamic is so perfect to have around when you want to top ice cream or  pretty much any dessert!

Ginger Garlic Lamb Shoulder Stew

Ginger Garlic Lamb Stew

Ingredients:

- 1.162 kg boneless lamb shoulder  (about 2.5 lbs)  

 Excess fat removed and cut into 2 inch cubes

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 tsp good olive oil

- 5 large cloves garlic, minced

- 1 piece of ginger, about the size of a man's thumb - minced

- Salt & black pepper (it will cook down so do not over salt!) You could always adjust later

- 2 tbsp Tomato paste - I used half a jar of San Marzano Passata 

- Juice of 1/4 of a lemon (or some kind of acid like a balsamic vinegar)

Directions: 

Heat a heavy bottomed wide pot on high heat, add the butter and brown the lamb pieces on all sides. Turn the heat down and add the minced garlic and ginger then when fragrant add salt, black pepper, tomato and lemon juice/vinegar.  

Add enough water to cover the lamb, drizzle the olive oil and simmer on low under lamb is tender (keep topping it up with water if needed)  It takes about 3 hours. 

In the last hour and when it's tender continue cooking to remove most of the liquid until it's a nice thick flavorful stew. Check for salt and adjust seasoning if needed. 

Enjoy with couscous, rice, pasta or as you see here some Freeka! 

Sheppard's pie (lamb)

Sheppards Pie

Super basic recipe

- 1 lb ground lamb

- Salt + black pepper
-1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

- 1 tbsp oil

In a large pan or pot add the oil and heat to medium high.  Brown the lamb moving it around constantly with a wooden spoon until it's done.

Add seasoning, salt, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.


Use leftover mashed potatoes to top the casserole and broil until the top is golden brown. 

If you're going to make the  potato part of the recipe then peel and roughly chop 8 medium potatoes and add to a large pot of cold salted water.  Cook on medium high, uncovered (or it'll overflow!) until potatoes are tender. Strain water.

Heat about 1/2 cup milk in the microwave.

Add strained potatoes back to the pot and over medium heat begin to mash them using a whisk, potato masher or fork. Move them around to "Dry" up a bit on the heat ... Add the hot milk and 2 tbsp butter.  Mix until creamy.

Now layer over the ground lamb in the casserole dish and broil. 

Red Dragon

Here's a cheese I loved so much that I simply had to write about it! RED DRAGON! I think since my last post about cheese I pretty much established that my taste in cheese is savoury, tangy and strong.  

I've noticed through my visits to quite a few cheese shops and my exploration (thus far) into the "Cheese world" that many of our Middle Eastern cheeses are kinda left out, unknown, undiscovered and that's a little sad to me but of course that doesn't mean I'm missing out on them, a trip to an Arabic Grocer solves that problem! And you can always find a local Arabic or Turkish store in your area and see what you come across, you may find something entirely new!

 These are the cheeses that I grew up with and love, the ones I remember always having in our fridge, from all the different varieties of crumbly, soft and creamy fetas to string cheeses, strong hard almost Romano style Egyptian Cheese and lavishly shaped braids soaked in brine, my father often couldn't resist bringing buckets of these cheeses over the boarder with him from Turkey on his way back home from his travels.

Let's get back to Red Dragon, I picked this cheese up from Country Cheese in Durham, Ontario.  A very cozy little gem of a place. They like to focus on local and "home grown" cheese especially, which I think makes them quite unique but they also carry quite a variety, and seem to be offering more and more everytime I drop in. 

Red Dragon I'm told is an English cheese, it has mustard in it, a grainy mustard too for some texture and has that sharp dijon almost horseradish after taste.  Anyone who loves mustard or horseradish will love this.

It's a creamy medium textured cheese which is what I love about it so much because it melts so beautifully (we're not talking melting or anything) just on your tongue, it's as good in flavour as a condiment/sauce/ spread in itself paired with some roast beef in a sandwich, it's really all you need.  Creamy, pungent and oh so delectable!

I was craving some roast beef as soon as I left the shop but I had some lamb in my shopping bag and whipped up some home-made burgers which I grilled.  

Lamb appreciates some tanginess so this was perfect!

If you're wondering about the pickled okra, it's so easy to make, you'll find the recipe here on my blog and it's probably my new favourite pickle. 

Crispy mini lamb pita bites

Crispy mini lamb pita bites with herbaceous yogurt sauce

- 1 lb ground lamb

- 1 or 2 packages mini pitas (whole wheat or white) 

- 1 egg

- 1 bunch parsley

- 1 bunch cilantro

- 1/4 red or white onion, finely diced

- 4 garlic cloves, grated or microphlaned 

- Salt & black pepper

- 1 tsp dry mint

- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

- 2 tsp pomegranate molasses

- Juice of half a small lime or 1 tbsp lemon juice + zest if you desire

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tsp sumac (totally optional)

- Mix all of the above, set aside to marinade.

You will also need some oil for pan frying later, olive oil and a plane oil (about a few tbsp of each)

Meanwhile for sauce: 

- 1 1/2 cups plain bulkan yogurt

- 1 large bunch dill, finely chopped

- 1 clove garlic, grated

- 1 bunch cilantro (about 2 tbsp chopped)

- 1 bunch of chives, chopped

- 1/2 tsp dry mint or 1 bunch fresh mint 

Dressing:

Salt & black pepper

- Lemon or lime juice

- 1/2 tbsp vinegar or juice from pickle jar.

Blend the above together and let it sit in fridge and just before serving season with salt and add lemon/vinegar mixture.

For meatballs, prepare pitas by gently slicing the side open (if they crumble a little it's ok, it's easier to make this recipe with fresh pitas but I had bought mine in advance and threw them in the freezer and after thawing they crumbled a bit on me)

Take a handful of meat about the size of a golf ball and stuff your pitas by placing the ball of meat inside and then once the pita flap is closed just press lightly to create a sort of "burger"

Set aside and when ready to fry heat some olive oil along with a plain oil in a skillet on medium, it's better to get the olive oil really hot to sear the outside and then lower it to finish cooking the lamb inside.  I hope my video will better describe this part as it's a bit tricky but you should be able to achieve a nice crispy outter layer. 

Serve warm and fresh with seasoned yogurt sauce and enjoy!

It seems in this house there is no head chef, there is only a headless one because for some reason it seems I'm always adjusting my camera angle wrong and chopping my head off, haha.  I really need to pay more attention to this.  It wont happen again, I promise.  Twice is just enough!

Today was a super busy day with having my new windows installed throughout most of the house.  It did not help either that I haven't had a good night's sleep because one of my kitties got into the habit of chewing at my foot. ( excuse my tired appearance in the video and you'll see me glancing over to check on the guys coming in and out from time to time as they work)

This recipe was so easy and yummy, it's a keeper and will be making it again, especially if I can find those little pitas on sale again (they're usually so pricey!)

The kitties could not wait for the next morning to inspect the new windows that were installed.  They're just LOVING it!

داوود باشا باللبن Dawud Pasha

Lamb meatballs

1 lb ground lamb

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1 clove garlic

1 small onion or 1/4 large onion

Dash of Worstershire sauce or lemon juice

1 tsp Mint (fresh or dried)

1/2 tsp arabic 7 spice (recipe here)

lemon zest (optional)

Oil for frying

Grind or chop the onion and garlic very fine, add to the rest of the ingredients and blend.

Make small meatballs the size of an egg yolk.

Fry the meatballs in some oil until they are browned, remove and set them aside.

Most arabic recipes ask to fry the meatball, simmer in tomato sauce and then bake, but I really don't like to cook the heck out of lamb, but in the middle east we are used to killing our food twice and everyone I know takes their meat well done.

You can adjust the doneness of the meat according to your taste but I found that simply browning them on all sides yields a perfect meatball that is still juicy in the middle.

Traditionally in the recipe Dawud Pasha the meatballs are served in a tomato sauce, sometimes it even contains some pieces of potato that were simmered in the sauce earlier but because I have a mild tomato allergy and have eaten enough tomato this week I opted for a yogurt sauce (below)

Yogurt sauce:

Blend yogurt and heat gently, do not let it split. Pour over the meatballs.

Butter sauce:

Heat about 1 tbsp butter and grate 1 small clove of garlic in it, allow it to become fragrant then remove from heat, sprinkle some paprika in the oil and pour over the yogurt.

Garnish:

Brown some pine nuts and sprinkle over along with chopped parsley.

Serve with white rice and salad, enjoy!