(no subject)
The supermarket had ground lamb yesterday, which I'd had in the back of my mind since returning from Swansea--Jo did many cool things with lamb mince--so we bought some.
And then I realized I didn't have any recipes or anything.
Given quantities, and the amount of energy I wanted to put into it, patties (burgers, if you prefer) seemed like the way to go.
So I cut up a scallion, and mixed in the white part (and saved the green, because it might come in handy), a good dollop of ginger paste, and half a teaspoon of ground cumin (available at the bodega downstairs, labeled as "ground comino"). Mixing by hand, as our mothers taught us (though it was ground beef then).
I fried the patties in olive oil. They seemed to be taking far too long, getting all brown on the outside and still very pink inside, so I turned the heat down and covered them for a few minutes. That worked: well-done but not overcooked. (Yes, I like nice pink lamb--but I suspected the ground lamb might carry the same risks as ground beef, because it probably went through the same meat-grinder.)
Serve with cucumber, boiled rice, and the scallion bits, which I mixed with the rice and Andy ate by themselves.
Let the cat lick the plates, which she does very thoroughly when it's something good and the tidbits we feed her during the meal aren't enough. In this case, what she got was a mix of lamb fat and olive oil, necessitating a thorough face-wash afterwards.
(It is good having a dishwasher; I cheerfully used extra plates and knives, because we don't have to wash them ourselves. And didn't worry about handling the frying pan handle with hands that had just touched raw meat, because it's going in the dishwasher and will be washed in the same hot water as the cutting board and the mixing bowl.)
And then I realized I didn't have any recipes or anything.
Given quantities, and the amount of energy I wanted to put into it, patties (burgers, if you prefer) seemed like the way to go.
So I cut up a scallion, and mixed in the white part (and saved the green, because it might come in handy), a good dollop of ginger paste, and half a teaspoon of ground cumin (available at the bodega downstairs, labeled as "ground comino"). Mixing by hand, as our mothers taught us (though it was ground beef then).
I fried the patties in olive oil. They seemed to be taking far too long, getting all brown on the outside and still very pink inside, so I turned the heat down and covered them for a few minutes. That worked: well-done but not overcooked. (Yes, I like nice pink lamb--but I suspected the ground lamb might carry the same risks as ground beef, because it probably went through the same meat-grinder.)
Serve with cucumber, boiled rice, and the scallion bits, which I mixed with the rice and Andy ate by themselves.
Let the cat lick the plates, which she does very thoroughly when it's something good and the tidbits we feed her during the meal aren't enough. In this case, what she got was a mix of lamb fat and olive oil, necessitating a thorough face-wash afterwards.
(It is good having a dishwasher; I cheerfully used extra plates and knives, because we don't have to wash them ourselves. And didn't worry about handling the frying pan handle with hands that had just touched raw meat, because it's going in the dishwasher and will be washed in the same hot water as the cutting board and the mixing bowl.)