Lamb leg stuffed with Mediterranean flavors, sous vide then grilled

We wanted to repeat something we improvised a while ago that turned out really well: lamb leg stuffed with mediterranean herbs from our window boxes. It was a thick cut so we cooked it low with sous vide to ensure it was fully cooked, then flashed on the grill to brown a little. 

Rose-pink meat with green lines from the rosemary paste

Our local markets (Sant Antoni, Ninot) have proper butchers, about half of which sell lamb (Spanish "cordero", Catalan "xai"). The cut from the front leg is "espalda", the back is "pierna" (Spanish) or "cuixa" (Catalan); the cuixa on display looked like a better shape for stuffing, and was under 12€/Kg. I asked the butcher to remove the bone, and he cut it up so we could use it for soup. Our leg of lamb was 1175g without bones. I opened it up, cut off a piece outside a rough rectangle leaving about 935 g (2 pounds).

We've got a healthy crop of Rosemary and Parsley, and a meager amount of Mint; we figured the salt and umami from Anchovies would go well. All the quantities below are flexible. Basically, flatten the meat, smear with a flavorful paste, roll up, cook long and slow, then sear.

This should serve 4-6.

935 g       Lamb leg, boned out, trimmed
  3 sticks  Rosemary, leaves stripped off stem
  1 bunch   Mint, leaves only
  4 cloves  Garlic
  8         Anchovies (from a jar)
 to taste   Salt
 60 ml      Extra Virgin Olive Oil, approx
 ??         Preserved Lemon, chopped coarse

Cut between the muscles of the Lamb to flatten a bit, being careful not to cut through it.
Slash the meat to provide more surface area for the paste, but don't cut through.

In a mini food processor, whiz Rosemary, Mint, Garlic, Anchovies, Salt, and EVOO; process to a smooth paste, adding more EVOO if needed.

I intended to coarsely chop some Preserved Lemons that Irene made based on the Modernist Cuisine tomes, but forgot until after I'd tied everything up -- next time!
Spread the paste over the meat, pressing into the slashes.
Roll up as a spiral.
Tie snugly with butcher's string.

I wrapped this in plastic film to prevent Oil being sucked out by the vaccuum sealer but this may not have been necessary.
Put in a sous vide bag and seal on the "liquid" setting to avoid pulling out the oil from the paste.

Cook 3.5 hours at 57C/135F which I took from Serious Eats, hoping for some pink but not floppy rare; he says that 2 hours should be enough, but I wanted to be safe: the rolled meat is thick, so it will take a while for the heat to penetrate.
When done, remove from bag and catch any juices.
Brown over a hot BBQ fire, like these folks do, about 5 minutes a side.

Seared on the barbecue

Slice with strings still attached for neater cuts, and serve.

Next Time...

The color was a beautiful rose-pink, with almost no loss of juice from the meat, maybe 60 ml (2 ounces), so I think 57C is  a good temperature. The lamb we get here in Barcelona is obviously different than the rather tender cuts we got in the States -- a bit more toothsome, but I didn't need a steak knive; I might increase the sous vide time to perhaps 5 hours to tenderize a bit more.

The rosemary paste was good, flavorful, and I'd use that again -- hopefully I'll remember the preserved lemons!

There were some tough gristly bits: trim the outside sinew better. 

Lamb fat melts at 56-60C, so our sous vide should have released some, but we saw almost no liquid in the bag and after cutting. When we put it on the grill fat did melt and cause flare-ups. Grill carefully, and lower the heat to tame any raging flames.

One Serious Eats post stuffs the leg with a black olives, and I think the briny tart flavor of a tapenade sounds like a good idea.

Lamb and Potato Moussaka

Greek Moussaka is usually made with eggplant, sometimes with potatoes; we didn't have eggplants so we went with this potato-only version from The Spruce Eats. It turned out really well: rich, tasty, a little exotic, but ultimately a comfort food. We're adapting it slightly here, all proportions are approximate -- it's not a fussy dish. It does take some time as there are several steps. We used lamb, but you could use beef or a mix. This dish serves four and fit snugly in a small lasagna pan, 11x7x1.5 inches, 1 quart/liter, or two loaf pans. 

I stuck the end bits of the potato in the top just for fun

We had some extra stock, and we didn't want to fry the potatoes, so we took the unusual step of cooking the potatoes in stock topped up with a bit of wine. We then reused the liquid to make a flavored béchamel. Totally unconventional, but tasty. You can just simmer the potatoes in water, and make a plain béchamel with milk, of course. 

We originally made this while away from home where we had no scale, but now we've converted it to metric.

You can swap half of the Potatoes for an equal amount of Eggplant.

Potatoes (and Eggplant):
700 g     1 1/2 pound  Yukon Gold Potatoes (about 5 medium)
500 ml        2 C      Chicken Stock (or Water)

Meat Sauce:

500 g         1 pound  Ground Lamb

  1 large              Onion, chopped

  3 clove              Garlic, minced

  2 medium             Tomatoes, chopped

2.5 cm        1 inch   Cinnamon stick

  2 whole              Bay Leaves

  1 g       1/8 tsp    Allspice (5 pimienta de olor), ground

  3 whole   1/8 tsp    Cloves, ground

  2 g       1/2 tsp    Salt

  1 g       1/2 tsp    Black Pepper

 70 ml      1/4 C      Dry White Wine

 20 g         1 Tbs    Tomato Paste

    1 bunch            Thyme leaves

Béchamel (typically: 1:1 fat:flour, 5:1 milk:flour)

See notes at end about doubling the amount.

 60 g         4 Tbs    Butter

 60 g       1/4 C      Flour

500 ml        2 C      Chicken Stock reserved from cooking Potatoes (or additional 250 ml / 1 C Milk)

250 ml        1 C      Milk

  2 g       1/2 tsp    Kosher Salt

  1 g       1/4 tsp    White Pepper, ground

0.5 g       1/8 tsp    Nutmeg, ground

  1 Egg                Yolk, beaten (optional)

Assembly, Topping:
 as needed             Butter

 15 g       1/4 C      Breadcrumbs, toasted

 40 g       1/4 C      Feta Cheese, crumbled

Slice the Potatoes into 2 mm (1/8 inch) slices and boil until cooked and flexible but not falling apart. We used Chicken Stock and a bit of White Wine instead of Water, just because we had it. Drain and reserve the stock (if using). If you're using Eggplant, slice a bit thicker: I cooked them briefly in the Stock this time but think that was unnecessary. 

Brown the Lamb, and remove meat to plate, leaving fat in the pan.

Cook the Onions (add some Oil if needed) until barely soft, then add Garlic and cook a few minutes more.

Add the remaining ingredients and cook to merge flavors.

Add the reserved browned Meat.

Continue cooking to reduce moisture, until you have a dry meat sauce.

If you used Stock or Stock and Wine, reduce the reserved liquid to 300 ml (1 C).

Melt the Butter and cook the Flour a bit.

Add the Milk and reduced Stock, and continue to cook and stir until you get a smooth thick white sauce.

Remove from heat and stir in Egg Yolk.

Film the lasagne pan with butter to lubricate it a bit.

Layer the half of the cooked Potatoes like shingles, slightly overlapping, to cover the bottom of the pan.

Add half the meat sauce then smooth gently.

Add half the Béchamel and smooth.

Add another layer of shingled potatoes, meat sauce, and Béchamel.

Top with Bread Crumbs and Feta.

Bake about an hour at 180C (350F) until everything's cooked through and a fork or knife can pierce the potatoes fairly easily.

Let cool 20 minutes to let it set.

Cut and serve.

2024-09-04 With Eggplant

I didn't have Lamb, so I made this with a 50/50 Beef/Pork mix. I used about half Potato and half Eggplant. I cooked each separately in a mixed stock I had on hand, but the Eggplant got too soft. 

Next time: 

Consider searing them sans oil in a cast iron skillet, as several Serious Eats comments suggested. 

The Feta we used didn't melt well, consider mixing into the hot Béchamel instead.

2025-02-21 With Eggplant and Potato

We used proportions we had on hand, below, and it made 3x bread loaf pans, each of which comfortably fed 2 people for dinner.

We used 400 g Pork/Beef mix, and about 500 g Potatoes sliced 2mm, and 500 g long Eggplant sliced into 4mm (2mm was too fragile). We cooked the potatoes in the 500 ml Milk with a Bay Leaf (no wine/stock this time), which we then used for the Béchamel; I didn't use the Yolk, and it was fine. We dry-fried the Eggplant on a plancha with a bit of oil to prevent sticking and it gave them an attractive pancake-like brown surface. I had to make a more Béchamel (400 ml Milk) to have enough for the top layer,.

Next time, use 1 liter of Milk to cook the Potatoes; this will require more Butter and Flour, probably double. found it much quicker to assemble when I mixed the Meat Sauce with the Béchamel, but reserve about 1/4 for the final topping.

2025-12-20 Eggplant, Potato, Beef: 2 pans, too soft

This time we had 500 g Ground Beef, 330 g Eggplant (4mm), 330 g Potatoes (2mm), and it was the right amount for 2 loaf pans. I simmered the Potatoes in 500 ml Milk, and dry fried the Eggplant.

Both both lost most of their texture in the finished dish. The potatoes were Patatas para hervir (boil) which seem to cook much more quickly than we'd expect, so next time perhaps skip the pre-cook or use a different kind of potato. Maybe the Eggplant could also have done without the pre-cook. I had to add another 250 ml or so of Milk to give me enough Béchamel with the 60 g Butter and Flour.

Khoresht-e Fesenjan: Lamb or Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce

I've made this with chicken and lamb, and have tweaked the spices, quantities, and procedure slightly. If using lamb, be careful that the rich sauce and spices doesn't overpower the mild flavor of the meat. This is a very rich dish and will feed about 8 with the proportions given.  1.5 hours cooking time

Fesenjan served with basmati tahdig

Adapted from a recipe posted by Emma Fernlund (thanisa@df.lth.se), from Persian Cooking: A Table of Exotic Delights, by Nesta Ramazani 1974, ISBN 0-8139-0962-7.

Serves: 8

2 large     Onions, chopped or sliced 

5 Tbsp     Butter 

2.5 pound   Chicken or Lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cup     Chicken, Lamb, or Veal Stock

2 1/2 cups  Walnuts, ground: some fine, some corn-kernel size

1 cup       Water

4.5 Tbs     Pomegranate Syrup (substitute sour cranberry juice) 

2-3 Tbsp    Sugar 

2-3 tsp     Salt 

1/2 tsp     Saffron (or turmeric) 

1/4 tsp     Cinnamon (ground from stick instead of pre-ground)

1/4 tsp     Nutmeg 

1/4 tsp     Pepper 

2 Tbsp     Lemon juice

6 pods     Cardamom, ground

3     Cloves, ground

Saute the onions in 2 Tbsp of the butter until golden brown.

Remove from the pan.

Add 3 more Tbsp of butter and saute the chicken/lamb pieces until lightly browned.

Drain fat.

Add the Stock and sauteed onions.

Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Bone if needed.

While that's cooking...

Grind the Walnuts to a mix of sizes;  the texture too thick if ground uniformly fine. 

Toast the ground walnuts in a saucepan or skillet until aromatic.

Prepare the sauce by stirring the water into the ground walnuts.

Stir in the pomegranate syrup and sugar, and simmer gently over a low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Roughly grind the walnuts

Add the walnut sauce to the cooked, chicken/lamb and onions.

Add the seasonings and the lemon juice.

Cover and simmer gently for another hour.

Adjust the seasonings by adding a little sugar if too sour, or more pomegranate syrup if too sweet.

The chicken/lamb pieces should be coated with a rich, dark, sweet-sour sauce; there should be plenty of thick sauce.

Serve with rice, preferably Tahdig. Couscous also works well, as would unleavened bread.

Basmati rice tahdig

Mallmann's Mustard Lamb

Lusty flavors and a a deep char give this a great taste on the BBQ; quick and easy. Adapted from Francis Mallmann's "Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way". Serves 2.

 16 oz  450 g     Lamb Leg
                  Salt
                  Pepper
1/4 cup  60 ml    Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup  handful  Fresh Oregano, fresh (omit if you only have dried)
  1       1       Lemon
                  Oil

Cut one or two inch-thick slices from the Lamb, across the grain; if you end up cutting more small pieces, that's fine.
Remove any obvious gristle and excess fat.
Cover with cling film and pound flat to an even 1/2 inch thickness.
Season both sides generously with Salt and Pepper.
Brush both sides evenly with Mustard.
Press chopped Oregano onto one side only, and press a thin Lemon slice on each piece.

On the BBQ, get a cast iron griddle or pan ripping hot.
Drizzle with oil and when smoking, slap on the Lamb, Lemon/Oregano-side down.
It will smoke a lot.

Let cook undisturbed until the Lemon and Oregano are charred (you'll have to peek carefully).
Flip and finish cooking to your desired internal temperature, about 135F is good: it should retain a bit of pink.
Serve with a rich Malbec, and vegetables grilled on the griddle.

Daily Dinner #3

Our friend Shannon challenged us to post about our regular meals, not just the eloaborate ones we sometimes to. We're trying to do a weekly post.

2015-07-26 Sunday

I find rolling pasta therapeutic: after a long day of coding, it  helps me relax.  Irene makes the dough with half and half all purpose and a coarser semolina for texture and bite. You need to let it rest to hydrate, and it can happily live in the freezer.  I divide the dough into a manageable size and start running it through the roller, folding it over itself several times on the widest setting to knead it.

Then pass it through successively finer settings to thin it and stretch it out. Dust with flour if it tries to stick to the rollers.

For fettucini, we run it down #7; if we were doing spaghetti, I'd only go as far as #5 to give it some body.

 Dust the sheet well with flour and run it through the cutter.

We sauced it with a pesto made from garden arugula.

Irene made a salad of different varieties of garden tomatoes that have good acid, and some sun-dried tomatoes as a counterpoint, with bright tomato juice, some good oil, Maldon sea salt, and sumac.

2015-07-27 Monday

Irene's riff on a Salade Niçoise including the last of our cold-smoked pork loin and a soft-boiled egg, beans and tomatoes from the garden.

2015-07-28 Tuesday

Packing for a trip, we raided the freezer for whatever we could find: home made meatballs, garden tomatoes, shaved parmesan, and (not home made!) spaghetti. The  tomatoes, fresh off the vine, had an intense flavor.

2015-07-29 Wednesday

Our stores are depleted so we went out to Kapnos in Arlington. Cocktails, the one in front was Don't Worry About It with rye, fernet and spices was a bit ... well, sweet-spicy for summer, the other, The Hannibal was  a mezcal marguerita with spots of harissa.

We've rarely seen navajas (razor clams, in the US called jack-knife clams) in the states so jumped on these. The were outstanding: fresh, vividly flavored, with a great texture. This was the stand-out dish of the evening.

Lamb tartar with smoked egg yolk, but we really couldn't discern any smokiness; the lamb was brightly seasoned, a good texture, and refreshing. Unfortunately, the grilled bread felt a bit stale, like it had been sitting around too long.

Octopus was tender was pleasantly charred, but not as flavorful as we would have liked.

2015-07-30 Thursday

My parents, who are staying at our house while we're away, took us out to Water and Wall (our choice) in Arlington and we were underwhelmed by the menu: the description of the dishes was intriguing but the food didn't live up to the promise. It was short but had two chicken dishes, and many were inappropriate for the season. The porchetta came with cold ramen, but it wasn't integrated into the dish in anyway. The duck confit was the only other adventurous dish on the menu, but too heavy for a hot July day. The steelhead trout was overwhelmed by a spicy sauce. 

On this quiet night, with less than half the tables occupied, the service was way too slow. We finished our cocktails and sat around for 10 minutes before the waitress returned to ask if we'd like another round of drinks: no, we'd like the appetizers, please! I can't imagine how this restaurant would fare on a busy night.

2015-07-31 Friday

Airplane food, baby!  An overnight flight from Toronto to Barcelona offered the usual "pasta or chicken".  My Mac and Cheese was OK, I figure pasta's a safe bet on an airplane: it had a bright sauce base, and was cheesy enough. Irene's chicken came with Israeli couscous studded with fava beans, sweet corn and carrots. The chicken was tender and juicy in a sweetish tomato sauce. The bread, as always, was too cold and gummy. The salad was made with cabbage rather than the usual iceberg lettuce, and the tomatoes were surprisingly flavorful. We were separated by 16 rows and I had to pay for my wine but Irene got away without paying. :-)

2015-08-01 Saturday

We picked a flat in Barcelona with a roof-top terrace and are really enjoying it. We hit the Mercat de Sant Antoni, about 5 minutes from our place, and picked up some sausage, and stopped for a liter of wine right from the cask and some bread for an alfresco dinner; since our body clocks were confused, we needed a pre-dinner much earlier than the Spanish 9-11pm time.

Since we'd spent the morning roaming the east side of Las Ramblas, we decided to wander the west side before returning for a dinner near our flat; that never happened :-). After drinks at a couple gothic bars (no, not the type with goth kids), we stumbled upon Bar Celta; this was a delight as it's the first place our friend Ann took us to on our first visit to Spain.  We knew it was a fish tapas place, but didn't realize it specialized in octopus (pulpo, so it's a pulpería).

So of course, the first dish was an outstanding octopus. They bring out steamed octopus, whole, and let them cool on the counter. When you select it, they take it back to the kitchen where they cut it up, sauté in good olive oil then anoint with lemon juice, garlic, and pimentón (smoked paprika). 

Woo hoo, we're in Spain, we can get razor-clams (here, called navajas). These were grilled in their shell, and were smoky and a little crunchy, again with good olive oil, garlic and lemon. They had a definite sweetness and a taste of the sea. 

More octopi, baby ones this time, cooked whole. They had a crunch to them, a little chewy, but not like rubber bands: a really pleasant toothsomeness then a yield as we bit through them. They also waited in the cool display case, and were grilled from raw (not pre-steamed) to order.

For a little variety, we rounded out the meal with a garlicky chorizo (sausage), redolent with pimentón. It was somewhat dried then sliced and cooked to order, it had an engaging chew to it.  Irene can't resist croquetas, so we had bacala (Catalan, "bacalao" in Spanish, salt cod) "fritters": creamy on the inside, with a thin shell -- not bad but not as stunning as the seafood dishes; something we should have expected from a pulpería, I suppose.

We ordered a couple glasses of a local rosé wine: you order a glass and they put the bottle on the bar and you fill up as needed; at the end of the meal, you're only charged for how much you drink. Of course we finished it. :-)

This was an outstanding casual meal, a steal at about $50, and I really enjoyed closing the loop with our first visit to Spain.