Lamb Jam 2013 - Shanks A Lot!

Yesterday, in the midst of a little (more) snowfall, Nick and I had no problem being inspired to leave the house.  We had Lamb Jam tickets, and since the food was going to be there, so would we!  After having such a great time tasting so many delicious lamb plates last year, we had been looking forward to this year's event for some time.  We arrived just before 3:00 to be sure we would not miss out on anything.  Trying to balance plates, drinks and a camera, I ended up focusing more on eating and drinking, but I managed to grab a few quick shots, including one of the overall winner!

Lamb Cake Pop

Enjoying all things lamb also meant getting a great Q&A with Lisa, owner of North Star Lamb Farm, while the chefs of Tavolo broke down a whole lamb in real time - quite impressive to watch.  There were some really good questions and comments about how best to prepare certain cuts of meat, as well as hints on how to get the most from your own lamb cuts.

Christmas Eve with Julia Child's Lamb

Let me first start by apologizing for the unintentional blogging break!  With the holidays, the move, and life in general, blogging took a bit of a back seat.  However, in an effort to share some great recipes and restaurants, I am back on the blogging wagon.

Even though Nick and I had been in our new place for less than a month, we decided it would be fun to host Christmas!  On the menu for Christmas Day for our group of 8 (!) was beef tenderloin from Butcher Boy (one of the best places ever!).  Wanting to mix it up a bit on Christmas Eve, and since it would only be 4 of us, I decided to use the last boneless leg of lamb from the Tri-Lamb Group - yes, it made the move too.

Boneless Leg of Lamb

Having cooked with the meat previously, I knew it was flavorful on its own and could just be roasted with a simple marinade.  Originally I was going to do some mustard, garlic and rosemary and go from there.  However, after speaking to a co-worker who shares my love of lamb, she mentioned that our very own Julia Child had a delicious and simple lamb recipe in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking that included soy sauce of all things!

Cranberry and Pistachio Lamb Roulade

Most of my lamb cooking experience comes from the Lean on Lamb and Tri-Lamb Group.  Using their ingredients and recipes gave me a lot of confidence when I was making the dishes.  So, when they contacted me to come up with a recipe (on my own!) with a type of lamb they surprise you with, I was totally ready for the challenge but very nervous.  I don't create a lot of recipes from scratch, so this was new territory for me.

Dinner is served

The guidelines were to take the lamb and showcase its flavors.  I was excited when my massive amount of boneless leg of lamb arrived - there was plenty of meat for the dinner party, plus a little bit to practice with (thank goodness!).  While I am more familiar with recipes involving cuts like lamb chops, I had to think about how I wanted to use the boneless leg.

Tri Lamb Dinner Night - Lamb Shank with White Bean and Tomatoes

When Tri Lamb Group contacted me to host another lamb supper club, I jumped at the opportunity.  Making the Lamb Pizza the first time around was such a great success and got a bunch of my friends to actually eat lamb (some for the first time) - exactly what the Lean on Lamb group intended.  Being the lamb lover that I am, I love getting to share it with others while getting more comfortable with making it at home.

Dinner is almost ready!

This time around I invited a small group of girlfriends on a cold night for Braised Lamb Shanks with White Bean and Tomatoes.

Lamb Jam - Loads of Lamb!

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I am a big fan of lamb, and for the past few years have been out of town for the Fan of Lamb Boston event.  However, this year when I saw that Nick and I were actually going to be in town, I bought us tickets immediately!  With over 15 restaurants coming and showing off their talents with lamb (and a few brewery's), we knew we were in for a treat.  A portion of the proceeds from the event go to Share Our Strength, which focuses on childhood hunger.  Lamb, beer and good times to help a good cause - perfect!

The event was held in the ball room of the Charles Hotel, which was packed full of lamb dishes.  While there were tons of great tasting plates, here are a few photos of some of my favorites!

Pain D'Avignon did a Smoked Bone Marrow Beignet with braised lamb shank,
Vermont  Shepard Cheese and  blood orange mostarda

On-My-Own Lamb Dish At Home!

I am someone who loves lamb.  When I go out to eat, if there is lamb on the menu I will probably end up ordering it.  Lamb is a dish my mom cooked a bit when I growing up, and to this day it remains one of my requests for special occasion holiday dinners.  While I do not have much experience cooking lamb, I did make some lamb meatballs, but then got some help from the Tri Lamb Group when they gave me a kit to make lamb pizza.  Eventually I had to take off the training wheels and just go for it, or else I would never get out of using basic ground lamb (not that there's anything wrong with ground lamb!).

Dinner is Ready!

So, off I went to Whole Foods, where I bit the bullet and bought some lamb.  I meant to buy a rack of lamb with 6 chops, but ended up asked for 6 lamb chops instead and did not realize what I had done until I arrived home - whoops!

Lean on Lamb - Lamb Pizza!

About two months ago I was contacted by the Tri Lamb Group (a collaborativeinitiative of lamb producer organizations from the U.S., New Zealand andAustralia) about hosting a supper club for 10-12 of my closest friends.  The goal of this group is really to educate American's on lamb.  In general, I think people think of poultry, beef and the other white meat - pork - for meats when cooking dinners, while lamb is not something that typically comes to mind.  This group's goal is to change that.  Turns out, lamb is much leaner and nutritious than beef.

By providing the components for a great meal they are able to provide a group with a fantastic experiencing with lamb to get the ball rolling.  In addition to the ingredients, the group also provides some fun decorations, like lamb jokes that also include lamb facts.  My favorite joke: "What is a lamb's favorite protest?  Flock-upied Wall Street!"

Recipes and Jokes.

Growing up, my mom actually cooked lamb about once every two months for my family, and since moving out it is always my request from her when we have a "fancy" dinner at home.  When I go out to eat, if there is lamb on the menu, I generally order it.  However, I have only cooked lamb once at home.  I think I find the meat intimidating to cook for some reason.  So, when given the chance to put a meal together and get some more experience under my belt in a well-guided atmosphere, I jumped at the opportunity.

Lamb Meatballs

I was looking for something to make for dinner recently and remembered seeing a yummy looking lamb recipe on the The Small Boston Kitchen, so I decided to give it a go. The recipe was actually for Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs, and being a lamb lover, it sounded like a great way to bring this protein into my kitchen.

Lamb Meatballs!

I will say Savenor's came up big on this evening. They did not have ground lamb packaged, so I had to ask the friendly butchers behind the counter for some. At first they went in the back to check, but still nothing. They said that I could buy the whole top roast and grind that up, but that was a lot more money than I wanted or needed to spend. So, just as I was about to start figuring out something else to cook, the butchers checked again and sure enough, they had enough lamb scraps (from the top roast), which they ground up for me - thank you Savenor's!