Ground Lamb, need recipe ideas, pls

Farmer's Market Ground Lamb 1 pound $14.00.
ouch - but you so rarely see it and of course, I bought some. Now, what do I make with it?
It's vacuum packed but still, I think I will freeze it until I can decide what to do.
Looking for ideas and suggestions.
Was actually thinking of making a single serve Shepherd's Pie. So I do have a recipe for that. But kabobs? or koftas? Not sure if I have ever made those, at least certainly not with lamb anyhow.

I've always used beef (as did my Mom) and grew up calling it Shepherd's Pie rather than Cottage Pie. Never knew there was such a thing as Cottage Pie until many, many years later.

Greek Dolmades with a lemon-egg sauce. Soooo good.

Moussaka, pastitsio, and the below, except I used almonds and cleaned out some of the seeds and watery parts of the tomato. I made tzatziki too IIRC.

I use ground lamb to make a middle eastern style meatloaf with lamb and beef.

Tourtière, with three kinds of meat, but bend the tradition. Use your favourite tourtière recipe and substitute ground lamb for one of the three types of meat. I usually use pork, beef, and lamb.

Shepherd's pie would be appropriate and it's really tasty with lamb.

Some kind of Middle Eastern meat balls.

Moussaka was my first thought...I don't remember which book, but one of Julia Child's books had a simplified recipe that I used to make with ground lamb, tomatoes, and eggplant, but it's been probably over 20 years since I made it! Lamb used to be cheaper, so I could grind my own, and it wasn't much more expensive than beef! Now, the beef has gotten almost as expensive as lamb.

I'll have to check her books later.

IIRC?

msmofet said:

IIRC?

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If I Recall Correctly

Thank you

I've been going thru a lot of the Threads pertaining to Lamb and this Greek Meatballs by Kayelle, looks marvelous. But might be too much for me right now. Andy yours looks very very yummy! Excellent pictures!

and here we have a post I wrote at about 6:30 or so and never "sent"
We really need a name for this 'anomaly'. LOL

Moussaka comes to mind.
Plus burgers/kebabs.
I make sometimes with lemon zest, cilantro and szechuan pepper. I think that came out of Australian's woman weekly cookbook.

And cevapici (or some form of spelling like that).

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. It is very much appreciated. I'll check'em all out tomorrow and make a decision - LOL or throw it in the freezer probably because they all sound so good and I can't make up my mind... again.

dragnlaw said:

I've been going thru a lot of the Threads pertaining to Lamb and this Greek Meatballs by Kayelle, looks marvelous. But might be too much for me right now. Andy yours looks very very yummy! Excellent pictures!

and here we have a post I wrote at about 6:30 or so and never "sent"
We really need a name for this 'anomaly'. LOL

Click to expand...

Postus Interuptus?

CD

Shepherd's Pie with Two-Potato Topping​

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs canola oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• ½ cup celery, chopped
• ½ cup carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 Tbs all purpose flour
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• salt & black pepper to taste
• ½ cup peas
• ½ cup diced carrot
• ½ cup corn kernels
• 2 cups mashed white potatoes
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 large egg, beaten, divided
• 2 Tbs melted butter

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Heat canola oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium. Add the onion, celery and carrot and sauté until softened. Add the garlic and continue to sauté 45 to 60 seconds, until fragrant.

Add the lamb and sauté until browned. Combine the flour and chicken broth, add it to the skillet along with the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce and simmer until thick and bubbling.

Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in the parsley, rosemary and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow the filling to cool.

Season the mashed potatoes with salt and pepper to taste and mix in half the beaten egg.

Season the mashed sweet potatoes with salt and pepper to taste, and mix in the remaining egg.

Pour the filling into an 8- or 9-inch square baking dish, put the sweet potatoes in the center of the filling, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Spread the mashed white potatoes around the outside of the sweet potatoes to the edge of the baking dish. Brush the top with 2 Tbs melted butter and bake at 400°F for 30 minutes, until the topping is lightly browned and the filling is bubbling. Let the Shepherd’s pie stand for 10 minutes, then cut into 9 equal pieces for serving.

dragnlaw said:

. . . Andy yours looks very very yummy! Excellent pictures!

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You should compliment someone else. It wasn't me.

pepperhead212 said:

Moussaka was my first thought...I don't remember which book, but one of Julia Child's books had a simplified recipe that I used to make with ground lamb, tomatoes, and eggplant, but it's been probably over 20 years since I made it! Lamb used to be cheaper, so I could grind my own, and it wasn't much more expensive than beef! Now, the beef has gotten almost as expensive as lamb.

I'll have to check her books later.

Click to expand...

David Rosengarten's moussaka is the best I've ever had. Not greasy, not too tomatoey, not oily. I always make 1.5 of the bechemel part because I like it and use half of the cinnamon. Follow the recipe other than those changes. Oh, I prefer to use mizithra cheese if I can find it because that's what he uses in his Taste cookbook.

Andy M. said:

You should compliment someone else. It wasn't me.

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oopsie, you're right (of course) it was Pacanis! TTT, I was surprised you posted so many pictures, wasn't like you, then I thought, well, it was back a few years!
But you did say that you 'now had to get cooking'! LOL.