Old Dog, New Trick

A couple of years ago I had dinner with a friend, Susanne, and she invited her sister, Maggie, along. Maggie turned out to be as serious a foodie as Susanne and I are and the three of us enjoyed an excellent meal at Tierra in Atlanta. As foodies are wont to do, we spent a good part of the meal talking about food and cooking.

We got to talking about Greek food and subsequently Maggie sent me a recipe — well, a list of ingredients, anyway — for lamb burgers with a decided Greek accent. I had a chunk of raw lamb in the freezer left over from a leg roast I’d butterflied a few weeks back, so I gave it a try. But rather than do burgers, I made a loaf figuring it would last better as leftovers than burgers would.

BTW, I bought the grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid a few years back with the intent of getting into sausage making. But I found I also love the control over the final product that grinding my own meat gives me. And it’s handy to have when you need to convert a slab of lamb leg into ground lamb.

Greek Lamb Loaf
Serves 4.

1 lb ground lamb — trimmed of most fat
1 lg slice white bread — crusts trimmed
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp olive oil
3 oz feta, crumbled
1 sm onion, diced
2 garlic cloves — minced
1/4 c pignoli — toasted
1/4 c chopped fresh mint
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
pepper to taste (the feta provides salt)

Soak bread in milk, then tear into tiny pieces (this is called a panade and adds moisture).

Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil until fragrant and translucent.

Combine all ingredients, shape into a loaf, and bake at 350F until internal temperature is 155F. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

I topped it with tzatziki sauce.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | lamb loaf | greek

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