Lamb. It’s traditionally been the Aussie Day thing. On barbecues, in pizza ovens, slow cooked, char grilled and on top of the stove. Our list of techniques and recipes will have you cooking like a celebrity chef whether you celebrate Australia Day on the 26th or not.
You could cook a lamb leg roast, but really, do you want to? You could slow cook a shoulder and bring it to the table with great ceremony and even greater garnishes. You could take your lamb next level with just a few tweaks and an eye on simplicity and, at the same time, deliver rock star cooking. And, if you want to push the boat out, buy a truckload of Frenched lamb cutlets (they are expensive), grill them and serve with homemade pesto.
Kick your lamb cookery up a notch.Credit:Marina Oliphant
Here are our thoughts and recipes for a lamb-tastic Australia day feast.
BUTTERFLIED LEG OF LAMB ON THE BBQ
Ask your butcher to bone out a big leg of lamb. When you get home, roll it out and you’ll find the middle section, which is very close to the shin bone, is thin and separates two large muscle groups. This is perfect. When you cook it, the small side of the butterflied leg will cook quicker that the large quadricep side, which results in meat everyone can agree on. For those who don’t like their lamb pink and bloody, carve their meat off the small muscle side of the leg which will be medium when the rest is rare.
Marinate the leg for as long as you like – 24 hours is fine – in a mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest, minced garlic, olive oil, salt, chopped fresh rosemary and dried (Greek if you can get it) oregano. Dried is much better than fresh oregano for this purpose. Don’t be conservative with the marinade ingredients. Smash the lamb leg with lots of garlic, lemon and salt.
On the day, pull the meat from the fridge and let it come up to room temperature for about an hour. Wipe off the herbs and zests with kitchen paper and toss it on a seriously hot char grill on your barbecue. Don’t fiddle with it. Don’t poke it. Don’t turn it. Put the hood down on your barbecue and allow the lamb to get a deep coloured crust, before flicking it over to char the other side. It will cook quicker than you think. If you’re unsure, probe the middle of the larger muscle and pull it off once it reaches an internal temperature of 48C. It is not completely cooked at this point, but as it rests for the next 20 minutes it will continue cooking up to your desired medium-rare temp of 53-55C. Rest it under double layered alfoil with big sprigs of rosemary, sliced garlic, more lemon zest and fruity olive oil drizzled over the top.
Slice the lamb and serve it with a chunky Greek salad or stuff the meat into pita pockets with salad and mint for a more informal approach. If your making pita pockets, dress the lamb with a simple crema of yoghurt, lemon juice, sumac, toasted and ground cumin (buy whole cumin seeds and roast it yourself in a dry fry pan until fragrant and then grind to a powder) and truck loads of finely chopped mint.
LAMB PIDE
A lot of you have outdoor pizza ovens. This Turkish recipe is like pizza but waaaaay better. It demands the high temperatures you get in a pizza oven (450-500C), but if you don’t have one, don’t sweat. Turn up your indoor oven as high as it will go, 240C-250C and it will work fine.
Buy some pizza dough balls from your local Italian pizzeria. Don’t buy frozen supermarket pizza dough (it’s full of extenders, proofers, raising agents, chemicals – bland and awful) or those horrible pre-made pizza bases which smell of disappointment and cook like Spakfilla. Try your local mum and pop pizzeria where they make and ferment their own dough. Unless you really want to, don’t make your own. Too much work.
Roll out the dough balls into thin, elongated, boat shaped pizza bases (see picture) and crimp the edges to avoid topping spill over. Apply a thin layer of your cooled lamb topping, and cook hard and fast. It could take as long as 15 minutes in a domestic oven, but keep checking for doneness and colour after 10 minutes. Once done sprinkle with sumac powder, crumbled sheep milk feta and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with mild pickled chillies and a salad.
For the pide topping, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy pan on medium-high heat, cook a finely diced large onion for a few minutes until soft (you don’t want colour on the onions – so moderate the heat as you go) then add three cloves of minced garlic and cook for a minute more until it becomes fragrant. Add 400g of good lamb mince and fry until it begins to brown – 8-10 minutes – stirring occasionally. Add a heaped tablespoon of cumin powder, a scant teaspoon of allspice and two heaped teaspoons of sumac. Stir through and cook for a couple of minutes more, then add three chopped and de-seeded tomatoes, a couple of tablespoons of pomegranate molasses (if you don’t have it, this recipe will work without it) and a splash (50-60ml) of water. Simmer for 10 minutes on low, until the liquid has nearly evaporated and the meat is sticky and dark. Set aside to cool.
SLOW ROASTED SHOULDER OF LAMB
This dish couldn’t be easier. Salt a room temperature shoulder of lamb and sear it in a heavy roasting pan with a glug of olive oil until it has a good crust and the kitchen is enveloped in a miasma of wonderful roast lamb aromas. Put the lamb aside and fill the bottom of the pan with coarsely chopped carrot, onion and celery. Fry the vegetables until they begin to soften and get colour, add two tablespoons of tomato paste, and stir through. Add as many whole cloves of garlic as you like (I usually go for 10-15), a half glass (80-100ml) of white wine and a good grind of pepper. Put the lamb on top of the veg and tightly seal the roasting pan with a double layer of alfoil. Cook for 12 hours at 100C. Job done. Bring the entire shoulder to the table and pull it apart like savages. Serve with buttered baby potatoes and a home-made mint sauce or a mint and parsley-based salsa verde.
Slow roast a lamb shoulder. Credit:Afam Liaw
HEY BIG SPENDER – FRENCHED LAMB CHOPS
Buy lots of Frenched lamb chops, the ones with the bone for a handle. Season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat for no more than three minutes a side. Let them rest under loosely tented alfoil with lots of stalks of rosemary to flavour them. Bring them to the table all piled up on a platter. Spoon over your home-made pesto sauce (basil leaves, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts blitzed in the food processor with parmesan cheese folded through at the end).
Lamb on the bbq.
COOK’S NOTES
For the pide, ask the butcher to bone out a shoulder of lamb and mince it there and then (ask him to use the coarse grinding plate). Pre-minced supermarket lamb can have lots of gristle and cartlidge in it, which is no biggy because it all cooks down, but you’ll get a far better product if you get your butcher to do it for you.
For the Frenched lamb chops, if they are different thicknesses – and they will be – give the thicker ones a couple of light thumps with the heel of your hand to slightly flatten them. A meat mallet is overkill for these tender chops.
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