Lamb recipes: 36 ways to cook a spring classic
There's no better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than with a delicious lamb dinner. Many lamb dishes look impressive, but they're often easy to prepare. Plus, lamb is rich in vital nutrients such as vitamin B12, iron, niacin and zinc.
When choosing your meat, buy the leanest cuts you can find and avoid those with fat that looks yellow-ish or crumbly; fresh young lamb should have firm, creamy-coloured fat.
Whether you're cooking an entire leg of lamb, a rack of lamb, or just adding some ground lamb to a dish, the following recipes are sure to inspire you.
Leg of lamb recipes
A touch of sweetness in the rich port sauce complements the roast lamb. Best of all, the lamb and potato gratin cook together in the oven, which is a bonus when you're co-ordinating a few dishes for a dinner party.
Goa, a former Portuguese enclave on the west coast of India, has a large Catholic population and a fiery, complex cuisine. This fabulously tasty Xacutti (pronounced Sha-kooti) is a specialty of the Goan kitchen. The spice mixture, or masala, might look daunting, but even if you don't have all the spices, you can still make a very good masala.
This rich marinade is best for lamb, mutton or pork. If you don’t have Korean soybean paste, use all white, or half white and half red Japanese miso (available at most supermarkets, and health food and East Asian shops).
For me, lamb is an absolute staple. Roasted leg of lamb is my equivalent of a Sunday roast beef dinner. I don't fuss with it at all, and the only prerequisite is that you load it with garlic and any combination of fresh chopped herbs your heart desires.
A fragrant fresh-herb marinade enlivens these lamb-and-mushroom kabobs.
New Mexico dried red chilies (available in many supermarkets or gourmet stores, usually under the Frida's label), or Mexican Guajillo peppers, make an unbelievably rich sauce, which is the base for many dishes in that border state. Although beans are not normally added to red chili stews in New Mexico, their addition makes a satisfying dish without too much meat. You can substitute beef or venison for the lamb. This is a good party dish; serve it with corn, wheat or sprouted grain tortillas or rice. This is a medium-hot version; you can adjust the ratio of mild and hot chilies to taste.
In the Philippines, the Easter roast would more likely be kid. The flavour is very similar – in fact, younger goat is even milder than spring lamb. Sarsa is Filipino for salsa, or sauce, and this sarsa is commonly served with other grilled meats, too, especially pork.
Armenian cooking is influenced by both traditional Ottoman (Turkish) and Persian (Iranian) cuisine. This is a treasured family recipe given to my mother almost 50 years ago by Armenian friends and was, in my childhood, one of my choices every year for my birthday meal, accompanied by rice pilaf.
Greeks generally roast their lamb with the addition of liquid until it is well done, mouth-wateringly tender and juicy. The use of butter here rather than olive oil might surprise you; however, in much of northern Greece, especially in Greek Macedonia, cow or sheep's milk butter is commonly used in cooking.
Rosemary and lamb are truly a blessed match of flavours.
Anchovies are an old-time flavouring for roast lamb; their savoury and complex flavour melds with the lamb for added dimension but without any fishiness. Traditionally, Scandinavian-style anchovies in brine would be used, but Mediterranean oil-packed anchovies also work well.
In Norway and Iceland, meat and some fish were often preserved in vats of soured milk -- sometimes for months - before refrigeration was available. This kept harmful bacteria at bay and lent the food a sweet taste. Marinating in buttermilk gives the lamb a similar flavour and helps tenderize the meat, and the traditional Scandinavian sauce of sour cream and pan juices is further enhanced with the caramelized buttermilk-infused juices of the roasted lamb.
Delicate spring lamb demands a light yet assertive touch of seasoning as in this eminently simple but delicious recipe.
This leg of lamb is first rubbed with fragrant herbs and spices – garlic, cumin, cardamom, chilies, ginger, pepper and garam masala – and then marinate overnight in yogurt. It's a two-day investment to get the meat ready for the oven, but for lamb lovers, the payoff is unlike any other.
If ever there was a dish that exemplifies Roman cooking in all its glory, this is it. "Stupendo," as Italians say about anything that boggles the mind, or "È una poesia" -- this dish is a poem. The lamb is often milk-fed, although not always, but in either case the meat is tender, the skin crisp, and the potatoes perfect enough for the pope himself and all his cardinals.
Rack of lamb recipes
Crown roasts -- lamb or pork -- are dramatic on an entertaining dinner table. Fortunately, they are much easier to put together than they look. Here we have the added convenience of a one-pan dinner – meat, stuffing and vegetables all cooked together. Make sure the lamb racks are frenched (the tips of the bones trimmed of meat and fat) for an attractive presentation.
Brian Steele, chef of Stratford's 25-year-old Old Prune restaurant, prepares a whole saddle of lamb (both racks from the lamb still attached) using these terrific flavours.
Indian flavours meet European-style cooking with a modern presentation. Lamb racks usually have six to eight ribs per rack; for six servings, you need 12 ribs. Look for fresh local lamb, if available.
Mint and rum define this famous Cuban drink; here we infuse lamb with rum, garlic and spices, then top it with a fragrant mint chutney.
If your rack of lamb is particularly thick, increase the cooking time slightly. Serve with roasted or fried potatoes and a green vegetable.
Have finger bowls or hot towels on hand when serving these succulent hors d'oeuvres.
Sunflower seeds add delicious crunch and a nutty flavour to this classic spring roast.
Ground lamb recipes
23. Lamb Kabobs
These authentically spiced North Indian lamb kabobs will start off the grill party with flair. Serve them with Indian-Spiced Coleslaw.
Using store-bought pizza dough and requiring no rolling, these tasty bite-size pizzas are easier to make than they look. Make them ahead and rewarm them in the oven if you like.
This moulded meat loaf, with Greek flavours, makes an elegant presentation with its outer coating of layered eggplant slices. Cut it in wedges like a cake and serve with a blanched green vegetable drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.
Spice and herbed ground lamb, piqued with bacon, makes a wonderful savoury filling for peppers.
Serve these burgers in thickly sliced Italian bread or wrapped in pita bread.
Lamb chops recipes
In Candida's tiny village of Compludo, family cooking is uncomplicated but full of flavor, as is the case in this recipe for grilled lamb. Although Candida's recipe calls for a whole leg of lamb, lambs are so small in Spain that using a much larger lamb would not be an adequate substitute, so I have used loin lamb chops instead.
Since red meat is one of the best sources of iron, lamb is a delicious way to increase your intake. Here, both lamb and beans combine to give a healthy hit of iron in a quick, simplified version of a bistro classic that usually involves hours of braising. Add a green salad and whole wheat rolls for a complete supper.
Lamb shank recipes
Braising the lamb slowly in this easy, low-maintenance dish makes the meat fall-off-the-bone tender. Use white navy, white kidney or cannellini beans.
Lamb is a perfect spring meal. Look for local lamb at your grocery store, then prepare it like the Irish do with this Provencal Rub.
Although braised dishes hearken back to classic French bistro menus, this type of cooking suits the Canadian climate.
Lamb shanks are cooked in a classic braising style, along with aromatic vegetables, wine and tomatoes, and finished with a northern Italian gremolada. Serve with polenta, rice or short pasta.
Lamb stew recipes
Well-spiced ground lamb, as in this Armenian-inspired dish, makes a wonderful change of pace. Serve it over rice, bulgur, couscous or pasta.
This fragrant lamb stew is thick with autumn vegetables.
The potatoes that are mashed later for the topping cook along with the lamb in this traditional Irish stew. For a leaner stew, use boneless leg of lamb rather than shoulder.