Category: Meat dishes

Beef, veal, lamb, pork, goat

Roasted Leg of Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

Roast Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

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One of the many traditions in Italy during Easter is serving roasted leg of lamb. This tradition goes back many centuries, even before the first Easter celebration, to the first Passover of the Jewish people. The sacrificial lamb was eaten, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in hopes that the angel of God would pass over their homes and not harm them. As Hebrews converted to Christianity, they brought along their traditions with them. In Christianity, the lamb is the symbol representing birth and the Shepherd, and Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God.

This is a delicious yet simple recipe using rosemary and garlic. You can either use a bone-in or boneless leg of lamb. While boneless is easier to carve, the bone-in is more flavorful. Either way the meat is very tender. When you remove the lamb from the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes so that all the juices don’t come running out while you are cutting because that will dry out the meat.

Ingredients       Serves 8

1 6 to 7 lbs leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat
2 T olive oil
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 c white wine
salt, to taste
fresh rosemary sprigs
fresh parsley

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Place lamb, fat side up, in large roasting pan. and sprinkle with salt.
  3. Mix oil, chopped rosemary, lemon juice and garlic in bowl, then rub all over lamb.
  4. Roast lamb until thermometer inserted into thickest part reaches 130°F for medium-rare, or 20 minutes/pound, basting occasionally with pan juices. Transfer to platter. Cover loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.
  5. Remove some of the fat from the roasting pan with a spoon; add 1/4 cup water to pan and any lamb juices from the platter. Place on top of the stove on medium heat and bring to boil, scraping up browned bits on bottom of pan. Season with salt.
  6. Cut lamb into thin slices on the platter and pour pan juices overt them. Garnish with rosemary sprigs or fresh parsley.

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Photo credit above: JeffreyW @Flickr.com

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage

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Although my father was not Irish, he made the best corned beef and cabbage that I ever tasted every St. Patrick’s Day. This is a recipe I adapted for use with a slow cooker so that you can prepare it in the morning and let it slowly cook all day without having to worry about it. You can either put it on high and let it cook for about 5 – 6 hours, or on low for about 10 hours.

I always boil the cabbage separately before adding it to the slow cooker because the liquid from the cabbage has a very strong taste and not everyone in my family likes it.

Ingredients Serves 4-6 people

3 1/2 – 4 lbs flat cut corned beef brisket
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 large carrot, cut up
2 stalks of celery, cut up
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 T olive oil
1 bottle of beer
1 head of cabbage, quartered (or smaller pieces if desired)
pickling spices (or use the spice packet that comes with the brisket)

  1. Remove most of the fat from the brisket, then place in a large pot with water and let it boil for about 15 minutes to remove some of the salt.
  2. Put all the vegetables minus the onion and cabbage on the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the olive oil on top and mix.
  3. Drain the brisket and place it over the vegetables. Sprinkle the spices over the brisket and vegetables, then add some of the beer, enough to cover the vegetables.
  4. Cook for 6 hours on high, or 10 hours on low, checking the amount of liquid.
  5. Boil the cabbage for about 20 minutes, drain it and set aside.
  6. About 3 hours before the brisket is done, add the onions to the slow cooker.
  7. About 1 hour before the brisket is done, add the cabbage.
  8. Corned beef brisket is done when it can be easily pulled apart with a fork.
  9. Drink any leftover beer!   winky face

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Spaghetti Pie

Spaghetti Pie

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Ever cook so much food because you thought everyone was going to eat Sunday dinner with you since you hardly ever see them anymore, but you end up having all these leftovers? Here is a good recipe for leftover spaghetti that is easy to make.

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 c. tomato sauce
12 oz. cooked spaghetti
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. ricotta or cottage cheese
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Butter the bottom and sides of a shallow baking pan.
  3. Cook beef, garlic, and onion in a sauté pan over medium heat until meat is brown.
  4. Drain the fat.
  5. Stir tomato sauce into meat mixture. Set aside.
  6. In a bowl combine spaghetti, Parmesan cheese and eggs. Mix well. Pour into the buttered pan and spread evenly across the bottom.
  7. Spread ricotta or cottage cheese over the spaghetti mixture.
  8. Pour meat sauce mixture over ricotta cheese. Spread carefully; do not mix.
  9. Sprinkle mozzarella over the meat mixture.
  10. Bake at 350° about 20 minutes until hot and set. Do not overbake.

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Top photo credit: John @Flickr.com

Meatballs stuffed with mozzarella

Meatballs (plain or stuffed with mozzarella)

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Contrary to what Americans (USA) think, spaghetti and meatballs are usually not served together in Italy, but rather the pasta is eaten first, then the meat.

I usually make meatballs in tomato sauce and either serve them together with pasta or make meatball parmesan sandwiches with Italian bread. This recipe uses bread crumbs but I sometimes use 1 or 2 slices of white bread, broken up into little pieces, instead. My mother used to add small pieces of butter or margarine to the meat which made the meatballs really tender and quite tasty, but I leave it out because it can make them a little greasy.

I like to make the meatballs stuffed with little cubes of mozzarella but you can leave that part out if you’d like. You can also bake or fry the meatballs and serve as appetizers.

Makes about 12 medium sized meatballs

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef, or 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb ground pork, or 1/3 lb beef 1/3 lb pork 1/3 lb veal
1/4 tsp salt or according to taste
1/4 small onion, minced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 T dried parsley (more if using fresh minced parsley)
1 large egg
2 T bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
mozzarella, small cubes

  1. in a large bowl, combine ground beef, salt, onion, garlic powder, parsley, and egg.
  2. add the bread crumbs and mix well.
  3. grab a small amount of mixture and roll into a ball (about the size of a golf ball). Make an indentation with your thumb and press a small cube of mozzarella in it then cover up the mozzarella.
  4. add to tomato sauce and cook until done.

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Veal Saltimbocca (alla Romana)

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Veal saltimbocca is a classic Roman dish. Saltimbocca literally means “to jump in the mouth”. You can use fresh sage leaves when available for each cutlet or rubbed dry sage which comes in those small spice and herb containers, which is what this recipe uses. You can also leave out the tomatoes and use dry white wine instead.

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients

3 lbs. thinly sliced veal leg (cutlet)
2 oz. butter
¾ c. olive oil
3 lbs. canned plum tomatoes, chopped fine
3 T fresh parsley
3 tsp oregano
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp sage or 1 fresh sage leaf to place on every cooked cutlet
12 oz. prosciutto ham, very thinly sliced
12 oz. mozzarella or provolone cheese, thinly sliced

  1. Pound veal slices thin if necessary.
  2. Heat oil and butter in a saute pan. Saute veal slices and remove when done to a sheet pan.
  3. After all veal is cooked use the same pan with the remaining butter and oil to cook tomatoes, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, and sage. Cook and stir about 10 minutes.
  4. Arrange veal slices in plates.
  5. Cover each portion of veal with a slice of prosciutto and a slice of cheese.
  6. Neatly cover each veal portion with some of the sauteed tomato mixture.
  7. Sprinkle each portion with parmesan cheese, if desired.
  8. Warm in low oven if prepared in advance then broil just before serving to lightly brown top.

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