Cooking

It might not be photogenic, but trust me, it's good.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve eaten lamb, and I’ve never particularly enjoyed it. While it might be a perfectly reasonable meal, I just can’t get over the fact that nobody has ever renamed this meat for the sake of marketing. I mean, let’s face it, we’ve spent our entire lives being told that lambs are soft, cuddly pets. Mary had a little lamb, not a little veal.

My husband, however, loves it. So when I stumbled across this lamb recipe compliments of Whole Foods, I decided to be a big girl and allow lamb to be cooked in my house for the first time in my life. And I was shocked — SHOCKED — that I actually liked it.

I’ve made a couple of minor modifications from the original recipe. As shown below, it fed one carnivorous adult, one carnivorous preschooler and one ambivalent adult.

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of nearly all fat and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano, divided
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp olive oil for cooking
• 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber peeled, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix lamb, half of the oregano, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add lamb and cook, stirring constantly, until meat is cooked through and liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

In a second bowl, combine yogurt, cucumber, 1/2 to 1 Tbsp lemon juice (add more for thinner, tangier sauce), and a pinch of freshly ground pepper.

Arrange quinoa on plates. Spoon lamb over quinoa. Top with sauce and garnish with red bell peppers and remaining oregano.

Results

A big thumbs-up from my husband who is still a little bit shocked that I even attempted a recipe like this. The Tiny Kitchen Assistant initially said that it was too spicy, but that didn’t appear to stop him from eating it. He wasn’t a fan of the yogurt sauce at all, and instead opted to munch on cucumber slices instead.