Americans don't eat lamb... or do they?
On my quest for easy meals that require little time to prepare, I came across this little number. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare everything and 8 minutes to cook. Also I found that my favorite butcher, Plowboys, offers much better ground lamb than I find in the store. That made for a really good meal. We served this one up with some cut up cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions on top of round of pita bread.
Middle Eastern Lamb Patties with Yogurt Sauce
Lamb patties
2 slices high-quality White Sandwich Bread with crusts removed
3 Tbsp. Plain Yogurt
1 lbs. Ground Lamb
2 Tbsp. Minced Fresh Cilantro
1 Tbsp. Ground Cumin
Pinch of Cayenne
3 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
Yogurt Sauce
1 cup Plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 Garlic Clove, minced
Salt and Ground Black Pepper
- Make Lamb Patties: Tear bread into small pieces and mash with yogurt to form west paste in medium bowl. Add lamb, cilantro, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, cumin, & cayenne, and mix until uniform. Pinch off 3 Tbsn sized pieces of meat mixture, roll firmly into balls (12 balls), then flatten into small patties about 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Brown Patties: Heat oil in 12 inch non-stick skillet over high heat until shimmering. Brown patties on just one side, about 2 minutes. Flip patties over, reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until well browned on second side, about 6 minutes. Transfer patties to paper towel-lined plate.
- Make Yogurt Sauce: While patties cook, mix sauce ingredients together and season with salt & pepper to taste. Serve patties with sauce.
Really good stuff here. If you have never tried ground lamb before, this would be a good starter. Ground lamb as a very unique flavor and doesn't feel as heavy as ground beef does when it is cooked in patty form. Wish I could tell you that it is more nutritious but everything I read about it states that it is about the same as ground beef, so you'll just have to try it for the adventure of it all.
Note: It was mentioned in the comments that I should add more real pictures of the food we make. I have to agree with that. It may take a few weeks though because the only reliable camera we have right now is our camera phones so I need to get a connector before I can do that full time. Thanks for the suggestion Joe!