Lamb meatballs

1/2 lb ground lamb
1/2 lb. 80/20 ground chuck
1 teaspoon penzeys Greek seasoning
1 teaspoon hot water
2 slices bread
1/4 cup milk
2 cloves garlic minced/ grated
1 shallot, grated (or sub 1/2 teaspoon sweet onion)
1 egg
Parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried mint
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pepper
Pinch cayenne

Pre-heat oven to 400. Add hot water to Greek seasoning in a small bowl. In a large bowl tear bread up into pieces and soak with milk. Add salt, pepper, garlic, shallots, parsley, egg, and herbs/spices. Mash to combine (potato masher works great). Add beef and lamb and gently work everything together. Do not overwork and toughen your meatballs. Cook a small pinch in a pan and taste for seasoning. Add more salt if needed. Form into golf ball sized meatballs. Brown in some olive oil on medium heat for 4 min per side. Place meatballs on a cooling rack which has been placed over a cookie sheet and bake in the top third of the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with minted tzatziki, onion, and tomato in a warm pita. Great with a side of spanikopita.

World's Best French Dip

The original french dip was created in 1918 at Philippes in LA. From what I have heard, their lamb french dip is the best. In honor of Philippes I made my very own lamb french dip with my left over rotisserie lag of lamb. It is to DIE FOR! Much better than the beef version.

Left over medium rare leg of lamb sliced thinly
1 cup of strong beef stock (I use the beef base from costco)
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 sprig of rosemary
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 loaf of french bread or 4 sub rolls

Heat the oil in a small sauce pan. Add garlic and rosemary and lightly toast for about 60 seconds. Add beef stock and simmer for a few minutes. Meanwhile thinly slice the lamb and butter the bread. Toast bread under the broiler or in a cast iron pan on the stove top. Spread some good Dijon mustard on one side of the bread and top with a slice of provolone. (You may want to put it back under the broiler to melt the cheese. Dunk the lamb into the au jus to flavor the broth and heat the lamb through (be careful not to "cook" the lamb and make it tough. Put the lamb on the sandwich and spoon some au jus down over the meat. You may dunk the whole sandwich as is tradition or serve it along with the au jus.

Roast Leg of Lamb

1 garlic bulb, roasted
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
8-pound whole leg of lamb, bone in
Salt and pepper, to taste

Roast Potatoes
5 lbs. Yukon Gold or Butter potatoes
2 T. chopped rosemary
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Roast garlic by taking only the outermost paper off of each clove and cutting the tip of the cloves off. Place in a small sauce pan along with ½ C. olive oil. Turn heat to medium and wait for cloves to start sizzling. Turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. The paper will slip off while cooking. Remove from oil to cool. Strain and reserve oil.

In a small bowl, mash together the roasted garlic cloves, rosemary, lemon and oil; set aside. With a sharp knife, trim away the white skin that covers the lamb (also called fell) as well as the excess fat. Pull up the layer of fat and fell, cutting as you go to expose the meat underneath. Rub marinade all over meat and refrigerate for 6-12 hours.

Rub salt and pepper all over lamb and place right on oven rack with a roasting pan below. Peel, cut into 1 inch pieces, and par boil potatoes for 5 minutes. Toss potatoes with oil from the roasted garlic, rosemary, garlic, and salt and pepper. Once lamb has been roasting for 30 minutes, turn heat down to 350 and place potatoes under the rack which is holding the lamb.

Roast potatoes for 30 minutes, remove.

Cook for 60-90 minutes until the internal temperature of the lamb is 135 degrees (rare) or 145 degrees (medium).

Roast potatoes for 10 minutes at 400 while the lamb rests.