cooking

[redbird]

Tonight's dinner was lamb patties, with rice and sauteed scallions and bell pepper. Earlier in the day, it occurred to me that I could skip the cooked vegetables and just have lamb, rice, and a half sour pickle. When it came time to cook, I decided it would be mentally easier to make something I've done dozens of times, even though it's more actual work, than to vary the menu. So, that was tasty, and we had different vegetables for lunch and for dinner, which feels like an accomplishment this time of year.

(Posting this more as "oh, that's how my brain works" than because the food was new or noteworthy.)

Comments

[minoanmiss]

It's still a nice mental image of you making and eating tasty food!

[otter]

Gotcha - brains are interesting. I feel rather accomplished if I get other people in the house to eat vegetables. I'm ok about it, but also not great at consistently preparing them to eat.

[princessofgeeks]

How do you make your lamb patties?

[redbird]

I use my hands to mix cumin and powdered ginger into ground lamb. Then add chopped shallot or the white ends of a few scallions, mix again, form into patties, cook in a frying pan.

Approximate quantities: half a pound of lamb, and half a teaspoon of each spice. One regular sized shallot, or half a large one, or three or four scallions. Use as much scallion/shallot as the mixture can hold (some bits will fall off while you're mixing the meat and forming the patties.

That much lamb makes four middle-sized patties or six smaller ones, which is a reasonable serving for two or three people, depending on how hungry they are and what you're having with it.

I started making this when my local supermarket had ground lamb cheaper than just about any other meat, and our budget was tight. Neither of those things is true right now, but I like lamb, so buy some when the price isn't too high.

[princessofgeeks]

Yum! In my experience Lamb is really lean. DO you put a little oil in the pan?

[redbird]

Yes, usually olive oil, but there's a lot of variation in how fatty ground lamb is, to the point that I sometimes have to pour off part of the fat once it's been cooking for a little while.

[princessofgeeks]

sounds great; thank you!!!