Category: Pastured lamb

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Bitterballen, a tasty Dutch snack

–          500 gr Leftover roast meat, shredded (chicken, pork, beef, lamb)

–          1.5 cup braising liquid, fat removed, from your roasts, alternatively make some broth with meat bones of your choice, onion, garlic, carrots, small piece of star anis, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper.

–          40 gr butter

–          40 gr flour

–          ¼ tsp allspice

–          Half a bunch of parsley, finely chopped

–          Salt and pepper

–          Panko

–          4 eggs, beaten

–          200 gr flour

–          Your favorite mustard for dipping

Shred your leftover meat and cut up finely (you can use a food processor to pulse the meat a bit to avoid getting big chunks in your mix. Melt butter in pan, add flour and whisk, cooking over low heat until a blonde roux is made, 3-4 minutes. Add braising liquid little by little whisking to avoid getting lumps. Once all liquid is mixed add meat, allspice, parsley and pepper. Cook gently until it thickens, 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Let cool on a cookie tray for 10 minutes then cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge for at least two hours until completely cooled. Roll mixture into balls a bit smaller than a ping pong ball. Dredge balls in flour, then dip in beaten egg and finally panko breadcrumbs. Once breaded you can freeze on a tray and transfer to ziplocs to avoid them sticking together. Fry at 350F for 5 minutes or until golden colored and hot in middle. Enjoy with a good strong mustard and a beer or a gin (bitter).

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Herb-stuffed rolled lamb flank

  • 1 lamb flank
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • ¼ cup chives chopped
  • ½ cup fresh chopped mint
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Butcher’s twine

Heat oven to 300F.

Season flank with salt and lay muscle side up. Brush with mustard and sprinkle herbs. Roll up tightly and secure with twine.

Heat oil in Dutch oven and brown roll until golden all over. Remove and proceed to cook onion and garlic until soft. Pour in wine and stock, return lamb to Dutch oven and cover with lid.

Bake for 3 hours until tender. Take lamb flank out and tent with foil on plate to rest for 20 minutes.

Skim the gravy of excess fat and add water if too thick. Slice lamb and serve with gravy and a sprinkle of mint.

Bon appetit!

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Kefta and falafel

Ingredients for the lamb meatballs and yogurt sauce

  • 1lb ground lamb
  • 1 Grated onion
  • ¼ cup panko
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • ¼ cup cilantro chopped
  • ¼ cup mint chopped
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cayenne
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • ¼ tsp salt and pepper

Ingredients for the falafel

  • 1 15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1/3 cup shallots roughly chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped
  • ½ cup cilantro
  • ½ cup parsley
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp cumin
  • ¼ tsp coriander
  • Pinch black pepper
  • 6 tbsp flour
  • ½ cup panko
  • Oil for frying

Yogurt Sauce: Combine yogurt, olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove, cumin, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Meatballs: Mix lamb, onion, panko, 2 cloves garlic and fresh cilantro together and roll into meatballs. Fry in pan with a bit of olive oil turning to brown evenly.

Falafel:

In a food processor pulse chickpeas, shallot, garlic, cilantro, parsley, salt, cumin, coriander and black pepper until a coarse pea-sized mixture forms. Add 6 tbsp of flour and continue pulsing until mixture is fairly smooth but some texture welcome! Form into balls and roll in panko. Heat vegetable oil (about ½ inch high in pan). Use spatula to press down on balls to form a disc, cook for 3 minutes on each side until golden.

Serve with pita bread and some tomato, cucumber, and feta salad. Enjoy!

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Roast X-mas chicken with gravy and pork and merguez stuffing.


This recipe is inspired from Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas turkey. We tried it a few times, and we like it better without the apricots. And we like chicken better than turkey! Here are the three parts!

Stuffing

Here is the video for visuals:
1 lb ground pork
salt and pepper
1 large apple, grated
(in the original recipe there were apricots)
about a handful of pistachio nuts, shelled and roughly chopped
zest of 1 lemon
a handfull of chopped parsley
olive oil
a lot of fresh sage leaves
2 merguez sausages

Mix ground pork, grated apple, pistachios, zest and parsley together. Add salt and pepper, On a large sheet of aluminum, drizzle olive oil and arrange the sage leaves right side down so they stick to the oil and overlap in two rows so they form a rectangle of sorts the length of 1.5 to two merguez sausages placed end to end. Season. Spread half of the pork mixture onto the leaves, run your finger down the middle to make a groove for the sausages. Place sausages in groove and cover with remaining pork. Wrap foil around the stuffing, twisting ends to seal. Roll package to get a tight and even log shape. IF making ahead, refrigerate at this stage. Place in a baking dish and bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for about 40 minutes. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before slicing to serve.

Chicken

Here is the video in case you need visual cues.
1 chicken (or Turkey, but we prefer chicken)
salt and pepper
2 onions, peeled and halved
2 lemons
3 garlic cloves crushed
small bunch of parsley chopped
375 gr unsalted butter at room temp.
1 tbsp olive oil
3 bay leaves
bacon slices

Preheat oven to 430 F. Prepare herb butter by mixing butter with salt and pepper,  parsley, zest of 2 lemons, juice of 1 lemon, crushed garlic, olive oil and parsley. Set aside.
Season chicken cavity, stuff with onions, 1 lemon cut in two and bay leaves. Loosen skin on the breast with your hands, being gentle so as not to tear. Do the same with the thighs. Stuff half the butter mixture between the skin and meat and gently massage the butter into hard to reach areas. Place bird in roasting tray (not glass!) breast side up. Spread rest of butter onto bird, season with salt and pepper then drizzle a bit of olive oil. If preparing ahead, cover with foil and refrigerate.

Roast turkey in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Take bird out of oven, and place bacon strips over breast. Lower heat to 360 F and cook until done (use thermometer! it avoids errors), they say 30 minutes per kg, but it always takes more time here! When done, remove from oven, let chicken rest under foil. Remove parson’s nose (the butt) and wings for the gravy. Remove lemon and onion from cavity for gravy and bacon from breast!

Gravy

This has got to be the best tasting gravy I have ever eaten. here is a link to the youtube video in case you need visual cues.

3 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 fresh tomatoes chopped
1 cup apple cider (I never have this in house so I end up using leftover pear wine someone once gifted us)
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup walnuts chopped

Drain the roasting pan juices and reserve. Heat up roasting pan on the stove and add all the stuff you took from the roasted chicken- chopped up bacon, chopped up lemon and onion. Add 2 sprigs of rosemary and tomatoes. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add wings and parson’s nose to pan and stir. Pour in cider and bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits on bottom of pan. Reduce by half then add reserved juices. Reduce once more by half. Crush everything with a potato masher to bring out their juices. Pour in chicken broth, bring to a boil and add remaining rosemary. In your gravy boat, place walnuts. Strain gravy into boat and serve.

Bon appetit!