Sunday Gravy

I already posted this back in 2009 but I thought it deserved a re-posting with some updated pics. This recipe is a staple in my family — guaranteed to make an appearance at each holiday, at the very least, and also among many regular ol’ Sundays throughout the year. It’s the kind of meal that takes several hours from start to finish, but it is one of my favorite types of meals to make. Take some humble ingredients — onion, garlic, canned tomatoes. Throw in some herbs, wine if you like, and your meat of choice (although in my opinion, lamb is necessary for the right flavor — sausage or meatballs optional), and a few hours later you’ve got a delicious gravy that begs to be swirled around pasta and mopped up with italian bread. Yes — eat this!

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Greek Meatballs with Egg-Lemon Sauce

Around 3pm today I was hit with a strong craving for greek food, but since my favorite greek restaurants are both 45 minutes away from my home, I would have to come up with other options for this weeknight. My specific craving was for roasted lamb and rice with egg lemon sauce. While there was no way I was going to pull off a roasted leg of lamb on a Monday night after work and the gym, I could definitely do meatballs. I learned how to make Avgolemono soup at a cooking class last Spring at Eurostoves, I figured that if I thickened it up it could definitely work as a sauce for the meatballs. I was right! This definitely hit the spot for tonight, I will definitely need to hit up the Olympia or Phoenician restaurants soon!

Lamb Burgers

I’ve had a series of dinner fails this week…I’m not going to get into the details, but I ended up ordering take out twice, and, while delicious and convenient, it most often makes me feel sluggish and lazy. And not in a good way. While I was making these burgers, I was sort of thinking of an alternate dinner plan in my head (um…triscuits? tuna fish? vodka and ginger ale?), because I was half-anticipating another fail. Lamb has been hit or miss for me sometimes because of its gamey-ness, but this recipe has been in my head ever since I read about it in one of my beach-reading books. Also, I’m on board with pretty much any savory recipe that includes cinnamon. I’m glad I made this — they didn’t require a take-out menu and were very satiating and aromatic. In a good way.

Ever since I had those merguez sausages, I’ve been craving some of the same flavors. I haven’t substantiated this yet, but I suspect that sumac is involved in those sausages. Since I also made a fattoush salad as a side dish to serve with the burgers, I added some sumac to the burgers. Good idea by me, but totally optional if you can’t find sumac (I bought mine at Christina’s spice shop, but also available online at Penzey’s, amazon, etc.) Serve it up sans bun, in a pita like I did, or on a hamburger roll — yummy.

Braised Lamb Shanks

If you are in the mood for slow-cooked food (and a lot of delicious, tender meat), make THIS. I served this with the suggested accompaniment, hard polenta cakes, which were kind of blaaaaaah. I would serve this with mashed potatoes next time 🙂