Recipe #2
Kebabs are one of my favorite ways use ground meat. The char from the grill, the blend of spices, and a zesty sauce makes for an insanely flavorful experience. Cutting the lamb with ground beef brings a milder flavor while still preserving the rich gaminess of lamb. Even if you aren’t a huge fan of lamb flavor, the aromatic spices and creamy yoghurt in the Tzatziki compliment the gamey intensity, making this a beautiful introduction to eating these fluffy Bovidae.
Now for the recipe. “Wait, really?” you may ask yourself. “He isn’t going to make me read through miles of background story and pop-up adds before giving me the recipe?”. Sorry, I’m not like other food bloggers. If you’re looking for an essay leading up to your recipe, just read my other blogs first.
Lamb & beef kebabs | Warm spices | Tzatziki
Ingredients: Yields a few big kebabs or lots of small ones
1/2 lb Lamb, ground*
1/2 lb Beef, ground (85/15 or 90/10)
4 ea Fresh garlic cloves, grated
1/8 c Parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp Salt (use what makes sense to YOUR palate)
3/4 tsp Coriander, ground
1/2 tsp Allspice, ground
1/2 tsp Sumac, ground
1/2 tsp Black pepper, ground
1/8 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1/8 tsp Cayenne, ground
1/8 tsp Cumin, ground
Tzatziki:
1 c Greek yoghurt (I like full fat, but reduced fat is fine
1/4 ea Cucumber, grated and squeezed
1 Tbs Fresh mint, fine chiffonade**
2 ea Fresh garlic cloves, grated
1 Tbs Fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Lemon zest (the zest of a single lemon will suffice)
¼ tsp Salt
Method:
1. Make the tzatziki. It tastes better if it sits in the fridge for a little while. Grate cucumber on a cheese grater and squeeze the pulp to remove excess water. Finely grate garlic with a microplane (or finely mince). Chiffonade mint leaves, zest and squeeze a lemon.
2. Mix all Tzatziki ingredients together in a bowl. Adjust salt as needed.
3. Make the kebabs. Grate garlic on microplane and finely chop parsley. Add all kebab ingredients to a big bowl. Using a gloved or very clean hand, thoroughly mix the meat and seasonings together. I like to open my hand, push into the meat mixture, and squeeze my hand shut. Doing this over and over will incorporate everything and help the meat bind together.
4. Once mixed, form the meat evenly onto skewers. If using wooden skewer, make sure to pre-soak them in water to decrease burning on the grill. Form the meat up most of the skewer length making it look like a big hotdog. And don’t go too thick. Somewhere between the diameter of a nickel and a quarter is ideal.
5. Fire up a grill (ideally) or a large cast iron to medium/high heat. Place the kebabs down and allow them to develop a decent char. Once the cooking side releases from the grill, roll them all 1/3 of a turn in the same direction. You will cook them on 3 sides resulting in a slightly triangular final appearance. The purpose of the kebab diameter is to allow them to cook through before burning the outside; BUT char is important to the flavor. So don’t be afraid to get some good heat on these. The final kebab should be just about well done, no medium rare here.
6. Once the kebabs come off the grill, allow them to sit for a minute or two. Now all you gotta do is dip them in the tzatziki and enjoy!
* Lamb is often not found in specific lean/fat ratios like beef due to its fatty nature. There also isn’t a market for rendered lamb fat like there is for tallow. Therefore you’ll find lamb usually unlabeled, and usually in an 80/20 : lean/fat ratio.
** Chiffonade is a French slicing technique meaning “little ribbons”, “little rags”, or “in rags”. To chiffonade, take your mint leaves and stack them up evenly in piles of 8-10. Roll the whole pile into a cylinder and make thin slices across it. The result will be loose pinwheels of mint strips that once you shake out with your fingers give you nice even ribbons.
