Stroganoff Lamb Burgers

We've now been working from home for seven months.  And, we love it!  Today, alas, I had to go to the office.  A plumber and his helper were going to be in the house all day.  While Connie can shut himself up in the study with an air purifier going, I'm stuck with the dining room table.  Too close for comfort.  I didn't think about dinner all day.  Got home about 6pm and checked the fridge and there we had a pound of ground lamb.  From the guy who sells to all the high-end restaurants in Indy.  We started buying lamb jerky treats from him eons ago.  In fact, we're on our second dog enjoying the lamb jerky.  So, Terry delivers to our house.  This time he had ground lamb, smoked chops, stew meat and smoked ribs.  Those ribs were killer!    I checked eat your books and found a couple of lamb stroganoff recipes.  But, I'd bought brioche buns and hated to waste them.  Time for a recipe mashup!  Stroganoff lamb burgers it was.  Some pepper and red wine and consommé went in with the lamb.  Which became two burgers.  Good ground lamb is very fatty so our 1/2 lb burgers became more like 1/3lb burgers.  Then, into a skillet went the butter and the mushrooms and onions.  When they were almost done, I added the garlic.  Then, I sprinkled on a couple of tablespoons of flour (1 T butter, 1 T flour, 1 c liquid for a good sauce) and let it cook a bit.  In went the  red wine and then the consommé, mustard and Worcestershire.  Once that was pretty well thickened, I started the burgers in another skillet.  The buns went in the toaster oven.  Once they were nicely toasty, I put the cheese on top and broiled them to let it melt.  Time to put it all together.  Bun, burger, sauce, other bun on the side.  I'd eat this again tomorrow.  For breakfast!

Here's the ingredient list:

1 lb ground lamb

2 T dry red wine

2 T consomme

1 t freshly ground pepper

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

6 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, finely minced.

2 T butter

2 T flour

3 T dry red wine

1/2 c consommé

2 t Dijon mustard

1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

buns ( I used brioche)

cheese ( I used a green onion Havarti but gruyere or Havarti would be great)

Leftovers with a Greek Flavor

Connie did an audit of the basement refrigerator after the party.  Peppers.  Use peppers he said.  I had browned six lamb patties for a greek layered dip for the party.  The dip never got made.  I'd used up my last six lamb patties from the huge bag I bought at the local farmer's market last summer.  Unless we make a special trip to Terry's place or pay the delivery fee for him to deliver lamb to us, the ground lamb is over until April when the farmer's market starts up again.  Consequently, wasting an iota of the lamb was not an option.  It was time to make Greek Stuffed Peppers.  Now, I didn't measure well as I made this so the measurements are a guideline - nothing more.


We really enjoyed these and I'll make them again.


Greek Stuffed Peppers


Ingredients
orange or red bell peppers
hummus
1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
1 lb ground lamb, browned and drained
1 c cooked brown rice
14 oz can diced tomatoes plus the juice
dried mint
honey
cumin
oregano
feta cheese
avocado
sour cream

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400.  Cut the peppers in half and seed them. 

Schmear the insides of the peppers with hummus. 

We used red bell pepper hummus because that's what we had on hand, but any kind should work equally well.  Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil until it's a bit browned. 

Add the lamb, brown rice, tomatoes, mint, honey, cumin and oregano in a small skillet and heat it through. 

Stuff the peppers with the lamb mixture. 

Bake for about 20-30 minutes until the peppers are softened.  Serve with feta sprinkled on top and a side of sour cream topped with avocado slices. 

Cottage Pie

Saturday night was my favorite Halloween party.  I wasn't there.  I was home recouping from the not-so-wonderful auto accident on Friday when a gal rear-ended me at about 35 mph.  Friday evening was rough.  Friday night was more rough.  I made it through my two appointments Saturday morning.  Then, I kind of had a melt-down.  My whole body hurt.  I was sick to my stomach.  I just wanted to sleep.  I kept working because there was so much to do but I reached the point I couldn't do any more.  So, the couch at the office beckoned.  Nap time.  Connie said he was going to call Judy and tell her we couldn't make it.  :-(  Judy and Carl's parties are the best.  And, I didn't get to go.  So, enough whining.  On the way home from the office I was busy tearing apart the latest Everyday Food.  It had a recipe for a Cottage Pie.  Similar to Shepard's Pie but with thinly sliced potatoes on top instead of mashed potatoes.  Sign me up.  It looked really easy to prepare.  Even better.  And, standing feels a lot better than sitting so cooking is better than blogging about it. 

The recipe calls for either ground beef or lamb.  I knew I had ground beef in the freezer that needed to be used up.  Next time, I'll use the lamb.  It has a subtlety of flavor that the ground beef doesn't and I think it'd add a lot to this dish.  The original recipe called for two tablespoons of tomato paste, a cup of beer and a cup of water.  By the time I got the tomato paste and the cup of beer added, I knew it'd need more flavor.  I kept adding tomato paste until the entire 4 oz can was empty.  Then, I kept pouring in beer until the entire can was empty.  It still needed more flavor.  Fine, a quarter of a cup of red wine went in along with three very thinly sliced garlic cloves.  Ah, now we're talking.  The step that got me was when the recipe said to sprinkle two tablespoons of flour over the top and stir it in.  Really?  I've never added flour as anything other than a slurry (flour and liquid mixture) when adding it to an almost finished dish like this. I was very tempted to do it the way I've always done it but decided the worst that could happen was a few small lumps.  And, guess what, it worked perfectly.  The last change I made was to put about a cup of grated sharp cheddar on top of the meat sauce.  I couldn't taste it in the finished dish but my guess is it added another layer of good flavor.

Connie said the cottage pie tasted like pot roast.  He was so right.  The liquid cooked up into the potatoes and they absorbed all that flavor like little sponges.  The tomato paste and beer and red wine made the most scrumptious sauce.  There are so many variations you can make with this recipe.  Chicken or turkey or pork with leeks and shallots and carrots and a lighter beer and white wine.  It's also a recipe that's easy to double or triple for company.  We'll definitely be making this again!

Cottage Pie


Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 T tomato paste
coarsely ground salt and pepper
1 lb ground beef or lamb
2 t fresh thyme leaves (it's fine to substitute with dried)
1 1/2 c dark beer
1/4 c red wine (cabernet or zinfandel would be best)
2 T flour
3/4 c frozen peas
1 c grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 large russet potato very thinly sliced (use a mandolin if you have one)
2 T olive oil
coarsely ground salt and pepper


Directions:
In a large saucepan or skillet, saute the onion, carrots and garlic in one tablespoon of olive oil. 

Cook them for about five minutes until the onion is softened. 

Add the tomato paste and stir it in.  Add the ground beef or lamb and stir it in.  (My hamburger was frozen so I browned it first in another saucepan.)

Make sure you don't have a lot of big chunks of meat.  Cook the meat until it's almost cooked through.  Add the beer, wine and thyme and bring to a boil.  Allow the liquid to reduce slightly - about 2 minutes.  Be sure to keep stirring.  Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir it in quickly.  Add the peas. 

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. 

Top with the grated cheddar. 

Cover with the potato slices.  They need to be VERY finely sliced.

You want the slices to slightly overlap. 

Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil over the potatoes then season them with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.  Allow the dish to rest for 10 minutes after removing it from the oven.  This will allow it to set up a bit so you won't have quite as much liquid running around your plates.