DCFüd and the American Lamb Board are giving away a pair of tickets for the May 15th DC Lamb Jam! Email your first and last name to Contest (AT) dcfud (DOT) com with the subject “Lamb Jam Entry” before 5pm on Friday the 13th (which sounds ominous) for your chance to win. I will randomly select a winner sometime later that evening.
This event features a variety of great lamb dishes, wine, and beer. I have been a judge at this event for a few years now.
-JAY
Wonderful French Master Butcher, Marc Pauvert from Spring House Farm in Lovettsville, VA Working on a Whole Lamb!
Last chance to buy tickets for tonight for DC’s Lamb Jam.
-JAY
CoCo Sala has brought back my favorite of their seasonal chocolate barks, Pumpkin Seed Brittle Bark. They carry their chocolate store, on their website, and at Union Market.
Last year’s DC Lamb Jam was awesome. Below is a message (found in my inbox) from Fans of Lamb DC.
-JAY
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From now through December 14, fans of lamb are invited to post their ewe-nique family recipes plus a quote about why they love American Lamb on the American Lamb Board’s Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/
How you can participate:
Chefs and Shepherds
Send us your lamb-tastic family favorite recipes! We’ll post them on our social media channels crediting you, and we’ll also use them to reach out to local media sources to get home cooks loving lamb this holiday season. Additionally, we’ll reach out to lamb-loving chefs to pick a grand prize winner. If you’d like to help us, please let us know.
Bloggers and Home Cooks
Enter our contest! Post your recipes on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AmericanLamb, or on Twitter or Pinterest using the hashtag #AmericanLambFamilyRecipe. We’ll re-post each recipe onto our Facebook page, and you’ll be entered into our contest to win a weekly cut or a grand prize gift certificate.
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Now I know where those cuts came from. Chef Nick Stefanelli broke down an entire sheep for us at Bibiana in late January. We got to meet Craig Rogers (from Border Springs Farm) and another shepherd, and got to hear about the dogs they use to herd sheep.
It was a great evening featuring local lamb and Washington State wines. The food was excellent and a couple of the red wines were phenomenal..but what stole the show for me was the lamb ravioli in butter sauce; I didn’t expect it to be a showstopper by looking at it, but it was, and there wasn’t a ravioli left on a plate at our table. I need to find out if that dish is on the regular menu. 🙂 The other dishes (including the milk chocolate mousse with gianduia center) are definitely worth a trip back as well.
-JAY
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I recently posted a recipe for roast lamb. As delicious as that dish is, it is possible, though not likely, that you may have some lamb left. Here’s one idea for how to transform the leftover lamb into an entirely new, and healthy, dish.
Mediterranean Lamb salad
3-4 oz cooked lamb
2 apricots, cut into segments
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 Tblsp pine nuts
5 olives, quartered
A few sprigs of mint
Cut lamb into cubes. Put in bowl. Add apricots and chick peas. Dress with yogurt dressing. Sprinkle olives and pinenuts on top. Garnish with mint.
Dressing
½ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup loosely packed mint leaves
1 lemon
Salt
Place yogurt in a bowl. Stir in mint leaves. Sqeeze lemon juice. Stir. Add salt.
Dress Mediterranean lamb salad.
-LMB
By Guest Writer LMB
I don’t usually cook much red meat. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat it, but the roasts and shanks and shoulders that taste so good require several hours to prepare and a group effort to consume. Neither of which is generally readily available to me.
But this week, I’m at the beach with a group of friends, so I have both the time and the audience to prepare some delicious oversized animal body part.
Someone suggested leg of lamb. An excellent proposal. But, as I was pondering how to prepare the roast, my mind immediately jumped to the toxic green-colored mint jelly product that my mother always served with her lamb. And then I got an idea.
I had recently picked up Monica Bhide’s newest Indian cookbook, Modern Spice, and was entranced by the sound of many of her chutneys. I had brought the cookbook to the beach, hoping to have a chance to try out one or two of them.
So our meal was decided: Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint-Cilantro Chutney (and a jar of the toxic green mint jelly for old times sake.)
Lamb with Mint-Cilantro Chutney
Roast Lamb
Peel and slice garlic. Cut slits in the top of the lamb. Insert garlic slices into the cuts. Pour olive oil over the lamb. Sprinkle with salt. Coat the lamb with rosemary. Loosely cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place lamb on a rack in a broiler pan. Put lamb in oven and immediately reduce the heat to 325 degrees. Roast the meat 20-30 minutes per pound, 20 minutes for medium rare and 30 minutes per pound for medium-well done meat.
Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.
While meat is cooking, make the chutney.
Mint-Cilantro Chutney
Adapted from Monica Bhide’s Modern Spice
Combine all ingredients in a blender, or in a bowl if using a hand blender, and blend to form a smooth paste. Cover and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve chilled.
