Like most people who cook on a daily, or near daily, basis, I love the “one pot meal.” Being able to  have your protein, starch, and vegetables all cook away in the same vessel with minimum effort (and only one pot to clean at the end) is a pretty good deal.

The problem I run into is that  I often have a hard time making them with complex carbs. White rice is easy enough to add to a one-meal concoction, but try throwing brown rice or barley in there and you are often left with rice that hasn’t cooked thoroughly or a piece of meat that is so overcooked it ruins the happy vibe of the one-pot meal.

But other grains that take less time to cook, like bulgur, which is one of my absolute favorite starchy sides, are perfect. You may recognize it as the main ingredient in tabouli,  but it does so much more. We easily eat it once a week. The most common way I prepare it is to make it into a pilaf, sauteing just a little onion & garlic in the beginning, cooking it in chicken broth, and topping it with toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds. I’ve also made this recipe as a side before, sans the chicken. Bulgur takes less time to cook than even white rice, and easily outweighs rice’s nutrition benefits, too (a serving has 50 less calories but 6 more grams of dietary fiber).

This meal is sort of a play on arroz con pollo, or chicken with rice. The ingredients and flavor profile are similar, but the arroz is obviously replaced with bulgur (which I have no idea how to say in Spanish, sorry. I mean, lo siento!).

Boneless/skinless chicken thighs would be a great replacement for the breast in this recipe. You can use bone-in, too, but I would simmer them in the liquid for about 5 minutes before adding the bulgur, to assure they get fully cooked.

Chicken with Bulgur and Peppers

Serves 4

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4 small chicken breasts or chicken breast halves, about 5 oz. each
cumin
paprika
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup medium grain bulgur
2 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 green onions, sliced

Season the chicken to taste with salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika.

Heat a large saute pan with lid over medium heat and add the oil. Once hot, add the chicken and sear for 1-2 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan.

To the pan, add the onion and peppers and cook until tender, with just a little bit of bite. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the bulgur and stir around to toast, before adding the beef broth and bay leaf.

Bring a mixture to a low boil, and nestle the chicken back in. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook about 12-13  minutes, then turn off the heat, and let sit for 5 minutes.

Top with green onions before serving.

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I remember coming across this recipe a really long time ago, thinking, “I need to make this right away!” and then somehow it got pushed from the menu the following week and back into the depths of my Google Reader. It’s really quite unfortunate, because this was a great meal.

I love meals that are spins on other popular dishes. I do it frequently with burgers and risotto myself. This risotto is based on chicken cacciatore. Cacciatore, while flavorful in itself, is usually put on top of plain pasta. It’s still delicious, but letting the flavors of the cacciatore permeate through the whole dish, as it does with this risotto, is a fabulous idea.

I normally use white wine in my cacciatore [please click only if you want see a  horrific picture and an even more horrific "write up"], but I liked Josie’s use of red wine so I went with it. I’m now looking forward to making another red wine risotto very soon. The red wine just gave the risotto a greater depth of flavor—and a very pretty color!

Although this recipe called for chicken thighs, I used breasts. It’s not that I don’t like thighs—in fact, if you read this blog at all, you should know I hold them far superior to chicken breasts—but breasts were what I had in my freezer. I made a few other small changes to this recipe, and we were very happy with the results. I’m looking forward to making this again and not letting it get lost in the black hole of internet recipes.

Chicken Cacciatore Risotto

Adapted from Pink Parsley

1 large chicken breast (about 8 oz.)
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. herbes de Provence
2 Tbsp. butter, divided
1 cup arborio rice
3/4 cup red wine
3 cups chicken broth
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
3/4 cup grated Romato or Parmesan cheese

Season the chicken on both sides with salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence.   Heat a large saute pan or wide/shallow saucepan over medium heat, and add the olive oil.  Add the chicken and cook 4-6 minutes per side, or until cooked through.  Remove chicken and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock, diced tomatoes, and crushed red pepper to a simmer.  Keep at a low simmer.
Add 1 Tbsp. butter to the pan where you cooked the chicken.  Once melted, add the shallot and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, and mushrooms and cook an additional minute.

Add the rice to the skillet, and cook, stirring continuously, until the edges are translucent.  Decrease the heat to medium-low.  Add the red wine, and stir continuously, scraping up any browned bits, until the wine is mostly absorbed.

Add 1-2 ladle-fulls of the chicken broth/tomato mixture to the rice, stirring constantly, until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.  Add another 1-2 ladle-fulls.

Continue adding liquid until the rice is cooked al dente.  Taste to check doneness—it should have a slight bite in the center.  When cooked to al dente, add 1 more ladle of chicken broth, and remove from heat.  Stir in the remaining Tablespoon of butter, Parmesan cheese, and fresh parsley.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, and add to the risotto.  Divide evenly among serving plates, and top with more cheese and parsley.  Serve immediately.

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This is not risotto.

It tastes a lot like risotto. It uses arborio rice. It has cheese. It is creamy.

But it is not risotto.

In her cookbook, Dorie mentions that her Italian friend warned her never to order risotto in a French restaurant, because the French can’t get it right. After experiencing this first hand, I typically tend to agree. It’s not that the risotto I’ve had in French restaurants is bad, not at all. It’s creamy and quite tasty. But it didn’t seem to have that same texture as Italian risotto – didn’t have that slight bite in the center of each rice kernel, and it wasn’t “loose,” like risotto should be.

(Though, I will say that we did dine at a French restaurant in Seattle once, and though I was hesitant, I did order a risotto that sounded too good to pass up. I have to say, they pretty much nailed it. And how can you not be happy when you can go to the same place for risotto and gougeres?)

This dish, while not risotto, is still creamy, delicious, and comfort food at its finest. And you know what? It’s not that bad for  you. It only uses a tablespoon of butter (for quite a large amount), and of course there is the extra benefit of spinach. Zachary enjoyed this, too (even though he thought it tasted better by the fistful, rather than off a spoon or fork). Another benefit to this dish is that, while it has a very similar flavor to risotto, it does not require nearly the same amount of attention. There is no constant stirring, adding liquid, etc. This is much easier and quicker to make.

I modified this recipe a bit. Since my spinach was already washed and dry, I decided to just cook it alongside the onions and garlic (Dorie has you cook it first, then wring it dry and chop). I also doubled the garlic and, since we don’t keep heavy cream around, I substituted whole milk.

We just ate this on the side of a piece of chicken with a quick pan sauce, but the rice would also be great stuffed into peppers or tomatoes. If you have leftovers, you could definitely make some fried risotto patties/balls, which would, of course, be awesome.

Creamy, Cheesy, Garlicky Rice with Spinach

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table

3.25 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup arborio rice
1 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
10 oz. spinach, trimmed and chopped*
1/4 lb. gruyere cheese, shredded
1/4 cup heavy cream or milk
salt and pepper

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Stir in the rice and then top with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the broth is almost all absorbed, and the rice is almost cooked. Turn off the heat and allow the rice to finish cooking on its own.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large saute pan or medium pot. Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the the garlic. Continue to cook until the onion is tender, and then stir in the spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted.

Add the rice to the spinach mixture, along with the cheese and cream/milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir until everything is well combined. If the rice looks too dry, add a splash more cream or broth to the pot. Serve immediately.

*If your spinach is not washed and thoroughly dry before starting, then wash it and shake off the excess water. Drop the spinach into a clean pot (with the bit of water still clinging to it), add a pinch of salt, and cook until wilted down. Then, when it’s cool enough to handle, wring out the excess water and chop the spinach. Wipe the pot out, saute the onions and garlic, and then add the spinach back in when you are mixing everything together.

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When I first received this German lamb sausage from Lava Lake Lamb, I wasn’t really sure what to do with it.  The obvious choice would have been to grill it (or beer-braise and then grill it),  slide it into a bun, and enjoy.  While that would have been tasty, I wanted to do something a little different.  Still, I used the beer as my starting point, and then thought of other things you’d put on a brat, like mustard or cheese.  Eventually, I decided to incorporate all those ingredients into a German style risotto. The peas…well, those were mostly to make it look a little prettier and add a little more nutrition. But I do love peas in my pastas and risottos as a rule.

This turned out fabulous and ended up being one of my favorite risottos.  The beer was very much a background note (I may even use a little more next time), but you’ll still want to use a good beer (this is not the time for Miller Lite).  We had this with a sharp white Cabot cheddar, which was just perfect. I had initially intended on using smoked gouda, but it completely escaped me when it came time to make my grocery list for some reason.  Give the gouda a try if cheddar is not your thing. (Is cheddar not everyone’s thing, though?)

German Risotto

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Serves 4-5

1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 lb. German lamb sausages, casings removed and crumbled (or sliced)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.25 cups arborio rice
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 cup beer
4 cups chicken broth, kept warm on the stovetop
1/3 cup peas
2 oz. sharp white cheddar or smoked gouda, shredded

Heat the butter and oil in a heavy pan over medium heat, and then add the onions. Stir occasionally, until onions are golden, about 8 minutes.  Add the sausage and brown.  Stir in the garlic. (Drain any extra fat, if necessary.)

Add the rice and stir a few times until it gets toasty and opaque.  Add the dry mustard and the beer. Cook until nearly all the beer has evaporated.

Add 1-2 ladles full of broth. Stir the risotto frequently until nearly all the broth has been absorbed.  Add the remaining broth 1 ladle-full at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more.  Continue this process until the rice is cooked–it should still be a little firm and have a slight bite in the center.  Just before it’s finished, stir in the peas and a little extra broth.  The risotto should be creamy, and a bit loose (not like regular rice).

Off the heat, stir in the cheese. Season to taste and serve immediately.

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One of my favorite food bloggers, Annie of Annie’s Eats, reached out to a few of us fellow bloggers about having a virtual holiday party.   When you meet so many great people online that share your love of food, it really is a tragedy that you’re too far away to invite most of them to share in your real-life holiday get togethers, isn’t it?  So, of course I was on board with a virtual eating extravaganza!  The six us (Annie, Kelsey, Nikki, Josie, Tara, and myself) decided to host our own little shindig via our blogs.

Two of us tackled appetizers, two made cocktails, and two made desserts.  I decided on an appetizer for my contribution.  No way I was touching dessert in the presence of some dessert goddesses! :)

I went with a Greek appetizer of dolmades, which are stuffed grape leaves.  They can be stuffed with meat  or made vegetarian, with just rice and herbs, which is what I did here.  If you want, you can make these with avgolelmono sauce (similar to my favorite meal ever, lahanodolmades), or just serve them as-is.  The great thing about serving these as appetizers is that they’re great at any temperature.  In fact, I just eat the leftovers straight from the fridge.  I used to not be the biggest fan of stuffed grape leaves, but I’ve since turned over a new leaf (ba dum ching!) and now I really enjoy them.

Nikki from Pennies on a Platter decided to share her baked fontina.  Hello! Who can resist ooey, gooey, bubbling cheese, especially when paired with some nice crusty bread?

Annie from Annie Eats made these absolutely gorgeous candy cane macarons.  I’m such a sucker for anything minty during the holidays.  Oh, who am I kidding, I couldn’t resist these any time of year.

Josie from Pink Parsley shared these awesome looking creme puffs loaded with raspberry pastry cream. I’m a bit of a creme puff fanatic and I’m pretty sure that if we were together for real, there would be none of these left after I polished them off.

Of course we needed some boozy beverages to wash down our delicious eats.

Tara from Smells Like Home brought these lovely cranberry-lime bellinis.  I looove the combination of cranberry and lime.  I also love booze.  Like, a lot.  Tara even made a virgin version of these to share.

And finally, Kelsey at Apple a Day made these gorgeous sparkling pepper berry cocktails. So festive! I  have no doubt that with the unique peppery twist of these cocktails they are really complex and delicious.

I had a lot of fun throwing this virtual get together with such a great group of bloggers.  I hope  you visit all of their blogs and check out these (and other) fabulous recipes! And, of course, I wish you some wonderful holiday parties, virtual or otherwise, this time of year.

Dolmades

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Makes about 25

6-8 oz. jarred grape leaves (about 25 leaves)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup rice
2/3 cup broth + additional for cooking dolmades
1 lemon
3 Tbsp. chopped dill
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley
1/2 batch of avgolemono sauce (optional)
Additional lemon wedges for serving

Cook the grape leaves in a large pot of boiling water for 5 or 6 minutes, or until pliable.  Drain and cut off any tough stems.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the rice and stir until slightly toasted and coated in the oil.  Stir in 2/3 cup vegetable or chicken broth and the juice of half a lemon.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer until the broth has been absorbed by the rice.  Off the heat, stir in the dill and parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place a grape leaf on your work surface, dull side up, with the stem at the bottom.  Spoon about 1 Tbsp. of the rice mixture at the bottom of a grape leaf.   Fold up the bottom of the leaf, fold in each side, and then roll up, cigar style.  Place in the bottom of a large Dutch oven.  Continue doing this with the remaining grape leaves, placing the rolled dolmades in a single layer on the bottom of the Dutch oven, if possible, layering in concentric circles if necessary.

Add enough broth to come up about 2/3 of the way of the dolmades.*  Squeeze in the juice from the other half of the lemon.  Then, slice the lemon and place the lemon slices on top of the dolmades.  Put an inverted plate over the dolmades (to keep them from coming up and  unraveling).  Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the Dutch oven, and then reduce the heat to low.  Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the dolmades are tender and the rice is cooked.

Make the avgolemono sauce, if using.

*If you plan on making avgolemono sauce, you will want to add enough liquid to come just above the top of the dolmades.

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Oh, mujaddara, how I love thee.  Who would ever imagine lentils and rice to be so good? But, they are.  This is one of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes (and it should be one of yours, too).  Mujaddara consists of onions that have been caramelized and lentils and rice that have cooked together with the caramelized onions.  It can be served as a vegetarian main dish or as a side. Traditionally, it’s only flavored with salt and pepper, but I think cumin and bay complement the ingredients so well, so that’s how I make mine.

I cook the rice and lentils together (some cook the lentils beforehand and mix at the end) because it’s easier and I feel like the flavors meld better.  However, the only issue with this is that the amount of liquid you need is not an exact science, so you may or may not need to add a little more as you go.  Don’t worry, it’s a very forgiving dish.  Certainly not the most beautiful dish, but very forgiving.  And delicious.

Mujaddara

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1.5 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, cut in half and then into slices
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
1/2 cup brown rice
2.5 cups water or broth (or a combo)*

Heat a deep saute pan or medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the oil.  Once hot, add the onions.  Cook for two or three minutes over medium heat and then reduce to medium-low.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are a dark golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Stir in the cumin, bay leaf, lentils and brown rice and saute for a minute before adding the liquid.  Increase the heat to bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer until the rice and lentils are tender, about 45 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*Add more liquid as you are cooking the mujaddara, if necessary.

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Tom did some grilling recently (from Rick Bayless’s cookbook – shocking, I know!) and for one of those meals, I made the arbol chile salsa as an accompaniment to some pork tenderloin.  I ended up having extra tomatillos and wasn’t sure how to use them, but eventually settled on rice.  Originally, I was going to do something similar to a Spanish rice with chunks of tomatillos, but decided to sear and puree them, much like the salsa calls for, and use that puree as part of the cooking liquid.

I adore poblanos in general, but I really love them with tomatillos.  Tomatillos are sweet and sort of tart, and I like how the earthy and just a teeny bit spicy poblano balances those flavors. Add that and some of your standard pilaf ingredients like garlic, onions, and chicken broth, and you’ve got a Mexican twist on your boring brown rice side.  This is really tasty and healthy, too!

I took a picture of the brown rice in the baking dish but it didn’t look very appetizing, so the one on the plate will have to do. :)

Baked Poblano and Tomatillo Brown Rice

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1 poblano pepper
1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked and cut in half
chicken broth
1 cup brown rice
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350.  Place the rice in a 1.5 qt. baking dish and set aside.

Directly over a gas burner or under your broiler, char the poblano.  Cook, rotating, until all sides are blackened/blistered.  Put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Once cool enough to handle, peel the skin off and discard.  Coarsely chop the poblano and throw into the food processor.

In a heavy skillet (preferably cast iron and something with higher sides) over medium heat, add the oil until shimmering, and then cook the onion until tender.  Spoon the onions into the food processor, and then wipe out the skillet (no need to wash it).

Set the skillet over medium-high heat and add the tomatillos, cut side down, and garlic.  When the tomatillos are well-browned, about 3-4 minutes, flip everything and brown on the other side.  Add to the food processor, and pulse until everything is combined and as smooth as possible.  Add enough chicken broth to equal 2.25 cups of liquid, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pulse a few more times to combine.

Pour the liquid back into your pan and bring to a boil.  Pour into the baking dish over the rice.  Cover with a tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil and bake for one hour.  Fluff with a fork before serving.

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I’m pretty good about meal planning, but even when diligently planning main courses, I often don’t think about the sides until that night.  I generally have well-stocked cupboards and some sort of green vegetable in the fridge, so on those nights, I end up making whatever sounds best with that particular dish.

The “grains” section of my cupboard is quite plentiful – white and brown rice, bulgur, farro, quinoa, barley, couscous, pasta, unseasoned bread cubes, etc.   The cornmeal in a canister on my countertop, though, tends to be forgotten.  So, when I wasn’t sure what kind of shrimp to make (or what to make it with), I decided to do a more Mexican-style polenta alongside some cumin & chili-rubbed shrimp.

For the shrimp, I just sprinkled on (ok, I was a bit heavy handed) some chili powder (regular and ancho), cumin & salt, and sauteed it in a skillet.  The polenta was the perfect complement.  I like my polenta a little thick, but if you like it more creamy/runny, just add more chicken broth, or you can even add some milk closer to the end.

Roasted Corn & Poblano Polenta

Serves 2
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1 poblano pepper
3/4 cup roasted corn*
2 tsp. butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2/3 to 2 cups chicken broth (depending on how thick you want the polenta)
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup (1 oz.) cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
salt and pepper

Over a gas burner or under your broiler, char the poblano on all sides, until the skin is blistery and black.  Put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Once cooled, peel and dice.

Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat  Add the garlic and stir until just fragrant.  Stir in the chicken broth, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste; bring to a boil.  Slowly whisk in the polenta – it will absorb the liquid almost immediately.  Add the diced poblano and corn.  Reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until cooked, about 10-15 minutes.

Off the heat, stir in the cheese and reseason if necessary.  Serve immediately.

*I roast the corn in oven for about 8 minutes (for individual kernels) but grilling it is delicious if you are already grilling something else!

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The day I made this rice dish, I commented to a few people that I had managed to become completely winded from bending over and picking up a pad of post-it notes that had fallen on the floor.

Well, if being too…err, round…to do that is a problem, then imagine what kind of problems cleaning this up poses:

You’ll notice there is pretty much nothing in this pot and that’s because as I was putting it in the oven, I managed to lose grip of it somehow and all  but about 4 grains of rice flew out, all over the oven and kitchen.  The lid managed to fly clear across the room.  To make matters worse and the mess more difficult to clean, the original batch was actually a doubled version of the one I have posted below, because when I tried my hand at this again the next day (you didn’t think I would actually try cleaning it up and remaking it the same night, did  you?), I didn’t have enough rice to make a full batch.

Since the oven had been preheated, the rice and veggies basically started to cook on the door and the bottom of the oven, so there was really no way to clean that immediately without burning myself.  And this is one of those times when I remember why I’m not really a fan of hardwood floors in the kitchen.  I had to start cleaning those up right away. It took forever, it exhausted me, and well, quite frankly, it pissed me off. I called Tom and asked that he pick up some food on his way home, so pub burgers & fries it was for dinner that night.

And there are *still* remnants of this mess in my oven, trapped in crevices at the edge of the door and completely under those crevices in unreachable spots. I don’t think we will have a brown-rice free oven for as long as we live in this current condo.

Thankfully, when I made this the next day everything went smoothly (except for the whole finding out I didn’t have enough rice thing). This is a nice dish to make because after you get it into the oven (the hardest part for me, apparently), you can forget about it. It cooks evenly, unlike some stove-top brown rices, and if you’re already using your oven to roast or bake a protein, it’s nice to just have both components of your meal in there for pretty much the same amount of time.  We had this alongside some roasted chicken thighs, which cooked for roughly the same time since I was baking at a lower temp than normal for roast chicken.

Also, it’s quite tasty. It gets a little bit creamy and the flavor from the chicken broth and bay permeates everything.  I’ll definitely be making this again and again, but just making sure I have a death grip on the pot before it goes into the oven.

Baked Brown Rice and Vegetable Pilaf

Serves 2-3
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1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 small to medium carrot, diced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown rice
1 bay leaf
scant 1 cup chicken (or vegetable) broth

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a small or medium shallow saucepan that has a tight fitting lid (or you can use whatever you want and transfer to a small baking dish later), melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook about 2 minutes before adding the mushrooms and garlic. Cook until the vegetables start to get tender but the carrots and celery still retain some of their bite.

Add the brown rice and toast it for a minute or two, stirring everything together.  Add the bay leaf, chicken broth, and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring the mixture to a boil, cover with the lid and then place in the oven for 1  hour. Let it stand a few minutes before fluffing with a fork and serving.

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If you know me, you know that I love lamb. LOVE it.  It’s pretty much the perfect meat to me.  A flavor so much lovelier than beef, but definitely not overly gamey.  Greeks tend to cook the crap out of their lamb and make it well done, and when I order it in a restaurant, I tend to order it closer to medium rare.  But you know what?  It’s good both ways.  I think one is more comforting and rustic (the Sunday roast leg of lamb for Greeks, or the lamb on a spit at Easter) and one is  a little more sophisticated and highlights the flavor of the lamb a little more.  Basically, you can’t go wrong.

When I got an email from Annie at Lava Lake Lamb asking me if I wanted to sample some of their lamb, you know I was on board.  But, this is not your ordinary lamb. Lava Lake Lamb is an artisanal producer of 100% grass-fed, certified organic lamb.  The lamb are sustainably raised on a family-owned ranch in Idaho. They are free to graze (never on feed lots), drink their mothers’ milk, and eat a variety of fresh range grasses and herbs.  And don’t think you can’t taste what the lambs are eating, because you can. This lamb tastes like LAMB.  If you’ve ever had an organic chicken vs. one from the grocery store or eaten Iberian ham (where you can taste the acorns the pigs have eaten) then you know what I am talking about.  Not only are you what you eat, but what  you eat tastes like that that thing ate, too!

Lava Lake was kind enough to send me three different cuts of lamb, and the first I decided to use was ground lamb. Ground lamb is great in burgers, meatsauces, and moussaka, among other things. I decided to go with some spiced lamb meatballs, kind of a throwback to Greek, Middle Eastern, and Turkish cuisine. You know I am a sucker for Greek yogurt, so that had to go there somewhere, and I love tomato sauce with my rice (definitely a Greek thing), so I added that too.  These meatballs were so delicious. Nice and spicy, perfectly textured, and of course…lamb-y.

If you can, I would highly suggest ordering some grass-fed, organic lamb from Lava Lake Lamb.  I’ve actually been trying to think of a place where we could possibly keep a deep freeze (not easy in a third floor condo), just so I could buy a half lamb and keep it in there.

Check back here soon to see how I use the other lamb from Lava Lake!

Spiced Lamb Meatballs with Tomato and Yogurt over Basmati Rice

Serves 4
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Meatballs
1 lb. ground lamb
1/2 small onion, grated or finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced or pressed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
olive oil for pan frying

Tomato sauce
2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 cup diced onion
1 (15 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
heaping 3/4 tsp. oregano

Yogurt sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

Rice
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts

Mix all the ingredients together for the meatballs except the olive oil (being careful not to overmix, which could result in a tough meatball) and form into meatballs. At this point, I like to refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes or so (or longer, if you want) to marry the flavors and firm up the meatballs.

To make the rice, heat the butter in a medium saucepan with lid over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic, cooking until tender.  Stir in the rice and cook for a few minutes to toast up the grains and coat them with the butter.  Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Cover with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat to low, and cook for about 40 minutes. No peeking! Once done, take off the heat and let sit for a few minutes before fluffing with a fork and stirring in the toasted pine nuts.

To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and then add the onions, cooking until tender. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce to a simmer and allow the mixture to cook as you are making the rest of the meal.

Add olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat (I like using a nonstick skillet for this). In batches, fry the meatballs until cooked through. Place on a paper-towel lined plate and keep warm until all the meatballs are cooked.

Once all meatballs are cooked, drain or wipe out the pan slightly (leave a little fat in there, but not as much as the oil and lamb have made). Turn the heat off, and then add the garlic clove (the residual heat will be more than enough to make it fragrant).  Stir in the yogurt until just warmed through and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To plate: Top the rice with the meatballs and a few spoonfuls each of the tomato and yogurt mixture.

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