bbstx, fwiw, this is the original recipe without any of my tweaks. It also calls for more onion than I use.

@chloebud, love the headnote on the screenshot. Thinking about this is having the same effect on me.

@plllog, do you put anything in the holes that you poke into the meat?

@John Liu, isn’t there some silver skin or something that needs to be removed when you cook a whole leg of lamb?

I’ve cooked lamb chops - well, late DH grilled them for me - and I’ve cooked braised lamb shanks but that seem too hearty for a spring ladies luncheon.

bbstx, it’s a nice spring recipe. Roasted asparagus is a tasty side.

Bbstx, I prepared leg of lamb once very similarly to Pillog's strategy. I don't wear stilettos and don't own an ice pick, so I used a knife to make shallow slices along the meat. I stuff with an herbed butter with garlic, rosemary and parsley.

@bbstx, nothing in the holes. They let the juices flow through. None of the musty flavor that sticking whole garlic cloves into the meat gives. You can put other things in the wine, like some herb sprigs, but this recipe that was going around when I was a teen, did not, and everybody loved it, and has remained a favorite.

Pillog, is that why mine didn't taste well, because I stuffed the holes? I had gotten the recipe from one of the well-known Food Network chefs at the time. My family ate it without complaint, but I did not like it at all. I just assumed I didn't like lamb, and haven't eaten it since.

Oh, Feathers! To miss out on good lamb for that! So sad! And yes, if you've only had garlic stuffed in, it could well be the garlic that turned you off. Some people love it, and do it to beef too. I think it makes the meat taste like old socks smell. And I like garlic. And I like this recipe which has a lot of garlic. So, if you want to try lamb again, get some nice young lamb from a good butcher, rather than prepacked, and just broil it (traditionally, it was cooked to medium or medium-well, but choose your own temperature, or try it at several to see what you prefer). Rest well before cutting. That's it. Add some finishing salt to taste.

Warning: Some people just don't like the actual lamb taste, which gets stronger as the lamb gets bigger. It's not nearly as funky as goat, but they're in the same general family, and good cookery can save both from tasting like the barnyard, though good, fresh lamb shouldn't have that strong a flavor. Which, in my mind, is delicious.

That's now I usually make lamb. It also takes condiments well, if you want to decorate it, whether mint sauce or jelly, which some people love, but I think is too strong (or maybe it's to cover the garlic-socks flavor), or a nice pan gravy, or a light, red wine reduction (really good with a red wine pepper sauce, but save that for after you've tasted the lamb without decor), or (gasp!) ketchup. (I do like ketchup on lamb as a holdover from childhood Used judiciously, it does enhance it.)

I'm one of those whose often spike lamb with garlic slivers and love it.

To make suggestions it would be helpful to know what sort of lamb you're thinking of using. A joint? Chops? Small pieces? Are you looking for a casserole or stew? Or a roast? And what's your budget?

@plllog, the best thing I ate in Iceland last summer was a lamb burger. I’d go back to Iceland just for that lamb burger. Here is how it is described on the menu at Fjärhúsið - Lamb burger with lamb bacon, salad (lettuce), cucumber, cheese, tomatoes, chipotle mayo, plus french fries & basil mayo.

💡 I just remembered that when I attended my sister’s wine club dinner last month, I met a guy who raises lamb. I need to get in touch with him and see if his lambs are commercially available.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK, I’m exploring options. I don’t have anything particular cut in mind. I also do not have a budget. I’ll spend whatever it takes to have a knock-out dish.

During our inaugural year, 11 years ago, we cooked from Frank Stitt’s The Southern Table. I made braised lamb shanks. It was delicious, but IMHO it is a bit heavy for lunch.

Just slip a knife under any silverskin and cut it off. Its pretty obvious and takes less than a minute to get rid of it.

I do lamb burgers with garlic and a bit of rosemary mixed through the lamb mince, then served on a Turkish bread bun which has been toasted and ”buttered“ with homemade houmous, topped with thinly sliced tomatoes and spinach leaves. Yum!

For a lamb stew, I have a favourite recipe which is at home, and for a roasted leg the size Plllog has described (which I would call a hogget leg rather than a lamb leg) I do Williamsburg Lamb, which involves rubbing the leg with sage and ginger, then browning it all over on the stove top before briefly flambeeing it with gin (I mistakenly used tequila one time and it came out fine 😂) and then roasting it in the oven.

Lamb shanks stewed, not unlike Osso Bucco but with whole lamb shanks, is very popular here and I have also done a Middle Eastern flavoured lamb shank stew which was very good.

I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon so I can post recipes if you’re interested.

“I’m exploring options. I don’t have anything particular cut in mind.”

But no grilling and lunch appropriate, right?

Just thinking…haven’t tried this but Ina G has a stew recipe.

Lamb Stew With Spring Vegetables

I also have a tasty burger recipe using ground lamb but we always grill them.

I never liked lamb until I had lollipops.Yum. I like them with a fig balsamic glaze (which I also use on pork tenderloin).

When we had a personal chef, she would grill a leg of lamb and serve it thinly sliced in a pita with balsamic onion jam, tzatziki, lettuce and tomato. YUM But the lamb had to be grilled iMHO

@mtnrdredux_gw, gotta have the tzatziki!👍🏻

I have good recipies for a lamb ragu, lamb shanks (braised are fabulous) and chops with several options. I actually like lamb “things” better than most beef options. Let me know if you might be interested in any.

@John Liu, I have a lovely boning knife for trimming whole tenderloins. If I go with a leg, I’m all set!

@colleenoz, I was with you on the lamb burger until you got to the hummus. I’ve tried repeatedly, but I just do not like it - neither the texture nor the taste. If I were a little more adept at grilling, I’d make burgers. Definitely something we haven’t had before. Our luncheons are pretty formal.

The lamb shanks I braised before were huge! Much too large for a luncheon portion.

@chloebud, if only I were more practiced with the grill. I suppose I can make anything ”lunch appropriate” by simply serving a smaller portion. We all leave these luncheons groaning at having eaten too much! We used to have 8 different things. We’ve cut it to 6: specialty cocktail, appetizer, salad or soup, entree and side, dessert. When we first started it was soup and salad and bread. Too much!

My DSIL and I have talked about making lamb burgers, but we haven’t experimented yet. Send your lamb burger recipe, please!

@1929Spanish-GW, very interested in your lamb recipes!

I would eat bark if it has tzatziki on it!

I always do a crown. Simple, elegant, fast cook.

I've made all of these

If your lamb shanks are huge, they’re not lamb, they’re hogget or mutton. A lamb shank is perfect as a single serving.

Thank you for that explanation, Pillog. With all of these good recipes, I am going to revisit lamb. My local meat market carries lamb and would surely help me out.

Trader Joes has wonderful small Frenched racks of lamb. I just rubbed with a little oil, then chopped fresh garlic and rosemary, salt and pepper and baked until med rare. They were delicious and small ribs when sliced. Very elegant, just a few bites in each one.

There are also different breeds of lamb, some larger than others. At least in California, we don't have the word "hogget". I've only heard it here in CF. Lamb in the USA is under 12 months. Dear family friends had a sheep ranch when I was young. The lambs of different breeds were different sizes and meatiness. Some at 9 months were nearly as big as some of the breeding stock. Whereas the lamb WF has from NZ is itty bitty throughout the season, and the larger chops and shanks are still small compared to other sources.

Hogget here is defined as sheep between 12 and 24 months.

I had to Google 'silverskin'. I'd never heard of it, other than on an onion, despite decades of buying, cooking and eating lamb. I don't see it mentioned in recipes here. I wonder why.

bbstx, this is what I use for the burgers. I find them easier than the skewered meatballs the recipe calls for. I often make them with just lamb, no beef. Good either way. I haven't tried the sauce...I like Ina G’s Tzatziki. This will yield 4-6 burger patties, depending on desired size.

Weber's Mount Olympus Meatball Kabobs

Serves 4-6

Meatballs:
2 medium garlic cloves
1 small red or yellow onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
3/4 pound ground lamb
3/4 pound ground beef
1 T. red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika

Sauce:
4 ounces English cucumber
1 cup plain yogurt
2 T. olive oil
2 T. finely chopped fresh dill
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce

For Meatballs: In food processor (or by hand) finely chop garlic, onion and mint. Combine in large bowl with lamb, beef and remaining meatball ingredients. Blend lightly with your hands until well combined. Form into meatballs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (you should have 20-25 meatballs). Thread long, wide skewers through meatballs, about 4 or 5 per skewer, leaving a little room between each meatball. Place kabobs on baking sheet, cover and chill for 2 hours and up to 8 hours.

For Sauce: Grate cucumber. Drain in colander and squeeze out most of moisture. In medium bowl, whisk together cucumber and remaining sauce ingredients. Cover and chill until ready to serve (can be made 1-2 days in advance).

Lightly brush or spray kabobs on all sides with olive oil. Grill over direct medium heat until fully cooked, 8-10 minutes, gently rotating meatballs 2 or 3 times during grilling. Serve warm with the sauce.

Floral, IME, silverskin is most mentioned with ribs. I can never get it to just pull off, like in the videos, so I ask the butcher to remove it for me. It does just come off with a slipped in knife from other cuts, Your butchers probably remove it, if it's an issue.

I wish frenched weren't so popular. It's very hard to get whole rib chops now. They're not pretty, but some of the best eating meat is being discarded along with the fat. And then you have to pay more fr less food...

I was so excited. This morning, I discovered a sheep grower very close to where I live. Grass-fed; grass finished. They had almost any cut you could ask for, including bone in and boneless leg of lamb. Then I discovered that they are ”temporarily closed.” [me: deflating] There are still a lot of folks around here without power and/or water because of the ice storm that went through 2 weeks ago. I don’t know if that is why they are temporarily closed or if it is something else.

When I said the lamb shanks were huge, I was comparing them to the size I would buy for a ladies luncheon.

For an evening like that, I think a Tagine would be great. Slow cooking and it won't spoil, doesn't need last minute attention or grilling. Here's one recipe but there are loads out there.

https://www.recipetineats.com/lamb-tagine/

@Islay Corbel, it is a luncheon not a dinner. Thanks for the link and the suggestion. I’m not a fan of middle Eastern spices. Nevertheless, I’d love to try it one day.

bbs, I mean no disrespect, but I am not sure I would serve lamb unless I knew them very well given that some people don't eat it for personal reasons or else they can't stand the taste/smell of it.

I am not a big lamb eater -- and I have never cooked it myself (which is why I have followed and not posted until now) I thought I didnt care for it until BFF married a man whose family had a sheep farm. Fresh lamb is soooooo good and so much better than what I'd had previously. I think you are on the right track .. hopefully your local source reopens and works for you, Bbstx!

For a luncheon I would enjoy lamb kebabs and lamb burgers .. not sure if they are elevated enough for what you are planning but they would thrill me.

One option I havent seen mentioned is pasta with a lamb ragu .. I have only had this once at a "big chill" kind of dinner party but it was delicious!

Still, lamb chops are my favorite and they are "right sized" for a luncheon.

Will be interested to see what you choose!

I was going to say that i would only serve lamb if i were sure my guests like it, as many do not.

Then i was googling why is lamb so unpopular and came across this, lol

I have polled the group to make sure there were no lamb haters. There weren’t. As I mentioned above, I have cooked lamb for this group before. I think of our luncheons as a time to stretch a bit; expand our culinary horizons; try new recipes.

I may have mentioned it before, the only food that anyone has expressed a dislike for is duck. She absolutely will not eat it. So, we’ve never had duck. (I strongly dislike duck, but if you put it in front of me, I’ll taste it. I never know when it might be the perfect duck dish.)

We have been cooking and eating together for 11 years. We start our 12th year in March.

Funky, I’d do lamb burgers in a red-hot minute if I had experience cooking on the grill. Yes, our luncheons are usually pretty dressy, but we can roll with whatever is served. I’ll admit no one has ever made barbecued ribs before. 😉

I love a good ragu. This past week we were in Park City. We had dinner at the Nelson Cottage one evening. It is a prix fixe menu with about 8 small courses. One of them was Gnocchi Ricci with elk ragu. It was beyond delicious!

One of my lamb favorites is riblets. They're a more genteel luncheon portion than whole ribs, with all the bone-sucking-ness. Cook's option on the drippiness. 😉 If you want to challenge the group. And they can be broiled. If you can source them. 😁 Marinate them just a couple of hours, and turn and slosh halfway through. You can go with Mediterranean flavors or full on Texas.

I rarely grill burgers, I'm more likely to pan fry them. You could pan fry burger patties and keep them warm covered in the oven.

Lamb ragu on gnocci. Heaven.

What about a lamb roulade? There are lots of recipes on line. This one caught my eye https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/lamb-roulade-with-fresh-goat-cheese/196706

I was looking for one made with ground lamb...a little more elegant than a burger/patty, but I didn't find one easily, but I'm sure they are out there.

I did see this one that looks fab and pretty easy. I imagine lamb sausage meat is just ground lamb? It's a really annoying website...don't click on anything that says "recipe" just scroll down to the bottom of the page to find it.

https://www.barrierfreecooking.com/lamb-rosemary-and-mint-sausage-rolls/?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic

From the recipe instructions I'm guessing that lamb sausage meat is different from ground lamb, as the recipe author suggests you can add lamb mince to the sausage meat for a more pronounced flavour. From my experience beef sausage meat is ground finer than regular mince, and has a higher proportion of fat to lean.

I don't think I've ever seen lamb sausage here, but I wasn't ever looking for it either. I suppose if one wanted to make this they could finely chop ground lamb in the food processor and just double up on the herbs and spices in the recipe.

As I said, the fat ratio is higher in sausage meat, and the texture is almost like a paste.

The lamb grower responded to my VM. She is going to call me today. A lot is going to depend on what cuts she has available and her suggestions for how to cook them.

I have looked at cooking lamb chops sous vide. I’ve done that with pork chops for the luncheon group. It is great because I can cook them to the temp I want, hold them in the sous vide container, then run them out to the grill for literally one minute on each side. (I don’t consider that ”grilling” because all I’m doing is searing the sides. The meat is already cooked.)

I'd do a test, if I were you. I'm wondering about the texture. Sous vide would definitely help with serving so many, because each chop is a bit of a different size and getting them all right in a regular oven would be hard! But I'm thinking to get a nice texture, it might work better to sous vide them to a bit undercooked, and then give them a little more time on the grill or in the oven.

I feel better about sous viding the lamb after reading THIS ARTICLE and THIS ARTICLE by Kenji. What is giving me pause is sourcing the lamb. The grower failed to call today and didn’t answer when I called her back. Through a little Google sleuthing and I learned that she has been recently widowed, so I am prepared to cut her a lot of slack.

I’ve just contracted with the producer to buy a 5 lb boneless leg of lamb. Their son is a chef and is going to give me some tips and recipes. Can’t wait to give this a go! 💃💃

NICE!!!

I cooked two racks of lamb as chops tonight. For reference, here was the process:

- buzz rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, herbs of choice, a little oil in food processor

- coat rack with that, let sit for an hour or more

- roast 450F for about 20 min then start temping

- at about 100F, pull from oven. The meat is still very underdone.

- cut into chops

- heat a cast iron pan, add oil, sear the chops a few at a time. My burner, my pan, my weight needed about 30 sec per side but yours may differ.

- Serve with a sauce, a chimichurri, etc or just butter.

Oooooh, @John Liu, those look perfect!

Very nice, John!

Ohhh, bbstx, looks perfect! And now gyros and sheperd’s pie!😊👍🏻