Lamb, Turkey and Beef Meatloaf-Meatballs (gluten and dairy free)

This is yet another variation on my mom's special meat loaf recipe.  I'm not sure just yet if this will be meatballs or meatloaf.  Probably meatloaf since, as good as these sound to me over spaghetti, with a tomato cream sauce, I don't think I want all that gluten right now.  In a big glass mixing bowl, combine the following:

• 
  1# each: ground lamb, turkey and beef
• 1½c chopped onion and sweet peppers
• 1T seasoned salt and pepper

In a 2c glass measuring container, whisk together the first two ingredients, then add the egg, oats and flax mix:

2 lg. eggs

1T± Sriracha sauce 

½c regular/plant 'milk' or half & half

1c quick rolled oats

¼c ground flax and other seed mix

When the egg, milk and oat mixture are well mixed, let it stand 5-10 minutes to achieve the proper level of 'gloppiness'.

Add this to the meat and chopped vegetables, then mix with a heavy wooden spoon or clean hands. When well mixed, form into meatballs or loaves. Bake at 350° on a parchment-lined jelly roll pan.

For meatloaf, bake for about an hour.  These looked pale after an hour, so I raised the heat to 375° for an additional 15 minutes.  Check to be sure the center is cooked.  Cool 5 minutes or longer before cutting.  Serve this with your favorite vegetable casserole.  Refrigerated leftovers will keep 4-5 days.  When chilled and sliced thin, this makes great sandwiches!  

Meatballs will take less time and should be flipped after half the cooking time.  Start with 20 minutes at 350°.  Flip them, then go another 10-20 minutes.  Check for doneness.  Serve these with your favorite sauce over pasta accompanied by a fresh tossed salad. . .Lin

Lamb-Quail-Duck Barley Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I made 8 quarts of a Lemon-Chicken-Garlic-Vegetable Anti-Viral Soup thinking I'd bring much of it to share at church tomorrow. With COVID19 ramping up, the churches here are closed and people are encouraged to avoid crowds, hugging and just stay home. Additionally, I still have quite a bit of that Beef Vegetable Soup I made a few days earlier AND the Turkey Chicken Soup. . .

I love this room at The New Scenic Cafe'

So, guess what I just did. . .

I made a small pot of really interesting barley and vegetable soup with Duck and Lamb meat, and even some Quail bones I used to make bone broth!!

There is a reason for this Soup Insanity however. I had some wonderful leftovers that were begging to be turned into soup!

A couple nights ago my daughter and I decided to go to a restaurant we hadn't been to in a while.  She had a coupon for a free entree' when you buy one, so we started with an appetizer of Porcini Cured Elk with Celeric, wish I had taken a pic of that!  Then Nancy ordered the Rack of Lamb and I ordered an incredible Game Platter of Venison, Duck and Quail with rutabaga and carrot steamed 'fries' roasted cherry tomatoes, served with little cups of perigord--a black truffle sauce, béarnaise and duck fat!  We also splurged and had dessert!  Well, laa-de-daa!!  Faannccy!!  

Nanc ate half her lamb and then felt the rest was too rare.  Same with my duck.  She gave me her lamb and the bones she had just cleaned off pretty well.  So, today, I gave the dogs the fat off my piece of duck, cut that up and combined it with the cut up lamb she hadn't touched, then boiled all the bones with a splash of vinegar to make a quick bone broth.  I strained it well and had about 4 cups.  I added a couple cups of the turkey-chicken bone broth I had in the 'fridge.  I quick sautéed the meat in duck fat, with the chopped, partially cooked 12 lg. cloves of garlic I had leftover from the Anti-Viral Soup (which contained 22lg. cloves of garlic.  That seemed anti-viral enough to me!!)

I moved the garlic-meat to a plate, added a little broth to the pan, stirred to incorporate the brownings and sautéed the chopped carrots and celery. While that sizzled, I added a shake of cayenne pepper, some finely ground black pepper, ½c of long cooking pearled barley and 2 cups of water. That simmered a while before I poured in 4-6 cups of the bone broths, covered and simmered it again, for a total of almost an hour.



At the end, I checked the broth for flavor, added 1t ground rosemary, and 2T+/- beef Better Than Bouillon, the perigord, garlic-meat and all the greens shown on the cutting board. I covered and simmered this another 5 minutes or so.

If you follow my blog, you probably recognize this recipe as a slight variation of my favorite,  original, 'signature soup recipe.'  My Lamb, Barley Scotch Broth.  I love making this!  The only time it's even remotely failed is when the lamb I bought tasted more like beef.  Even then, it was an awesome soup!  Don't pitch those leftovers. . .ponder a while and turn them into your own, truly unique, yummy creation! . . Lin

A Simple Lamb and Barley Soup

 1½ # lamb plus a lamb shank

3-4 carrots

2 ribs of celery

6-8 cloves of garlic

1-1½c chopped onion

1t-1T Rosemary Seasoning *

1-2T Better Than Bouillon beef flavor

⅔-1c barley

I tried a different technique this time.  Instead of browning all the lamb first, I took off all the fat, cut it in cubes and simmered it at a low-medium boil, with the whole shank in 4 quarts of water, for about an hour.  After removing the meat, I strained the broth several times then chilled it overnight.  This morning, I skimmed off as much of the fat as I could, and strained it again to get the sediment out.  You want the broth as clear as possible.

Combine the chopped vegetables, cubed lamb and butter,  Saute' for 10-15 minutes, until your kitchen smells wonderful! 😊 Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the barley is done.  I bought quick cooking (20 minute) barley by mistake, but it turned out well.  The vegetables and barley were just right at the same time.  Today it's going to be hot here, with high humidity, but for me - it's always Soup Season! . . . Lin

Lamb and Vegetable Stroganoff

10oz. cooked lamb roast - cubed

1c sliced or chopped onion

2 stalks of celery - diced

1 carrot - diced
2T butter

Penzey's Black and Red Spice
Rosemary Seasoning *
1-2c lamb broth

4-8oz. sour cream
4oz. black truffle Alfredo sauce

Saute' the first group of ingredients until the butter melts and everything's sizzling.  Add the seasonings, a little at a time.  After all the flavors come out and blend, you can add more at the end if needed.  The black and red is a great blend of finely ground black and a little cayenne pepper.  Cover this and turn down the heat.  Let simmer on low about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook up some chunky pasta.  Just before serving, add the sour cream and Alfredo. Stir in some of the starchy pasta water to both thin and thicken it.  (it's magic!)  Check the flavors to see if more seasoning is needed.  As I was serving this, I remembered I have 8oz. of gorgeous mushrooms in the 'fridge - how yummy would those have been in this?  Also some really great frozen peas, which might also have been good.

However, this was beyond delicious!  It'll forever ruin me for regular (beef) stroganoff.

This would be a great recipe to also use with tender bison, elk, venison or goat, which is what the butcher at the European Market told me this roast was.  I love lamb though, so it worked out well.  And. . .I did buy goat chops!!!  So, if you love goat, stay tuned! 😉. . . Lin

2-Day Scotch Broth with Madagascar Pink Rice

DAY ONE:

5# lamb-?-goat roast

~ all fat removed - but saved

1T adobo seasoning or

1T Rosemary Seasoning *

water

I recently went to a European Market in the Chicago area.  I was SO excited to get some smoked goat chops again, like I did 3 years ago at this market.

Well, the butcher gave me a gorgeous 5# roast, but when I got it back home in Minnesota, I realized it was labeled MUTTON - lamb, which I also love, but it's not goat!  If I'm remembering the scent of goat meat, this does seem more like lamb.  The butcher I spoke with a couple days later, to get more 'goat' cut and wrapped up what I'm sure IS goat, but this time the label read COW FEET!  He was a sweet man who spoke broken English, who reminded me of a Spanish Dustin Hoffman!  The goat chops were over $4 a pound, but this whole package cost me a little over $6, rather than the $13-$15 it should have been.  Hmmm, all kinda strange!  "Preferred-customer discount?"

Regardless, put the trimmed roast into an 6-8 quart pot, brown it in the butter.  When both sides are nicely brown and sizzled, remove from the heat a few minutes, then add water to almost cover the roast.   Add the thick outer fat - that you trimmed off - back to the pot.  (I know, counterintuitive, right?  I like doing it this way.  It'll make sense in a bit.)  Cover the pot and simmer 60-90 minutes, turning the meat over several times.  Take the roast out, put it on a dinner plate with raised edges, let cool then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Scoop out the big chunks of fat that didn't melt and thrown them away.  Put the fatty broth in the refrigerator until the fat solidifies.  Overnight is best.

DAY TWO:

12oz. meat cut in small cubes

2t Rosemary Seasoning

2T of the rendered fat

⅔c long cooking rice, barley or sorghum 

This is the fun part.  Somehow I deleted the photo of the fat covered broth when I took the pot out of the 'fridge.  It had a very hard ¼" of yellow-white fat that was easily and cleanly broken away from the broth beneath.  I heated the 5oz. of fat then strained it into the jar shown above at the right in the first little photo.  It solidified quickly.  I then added a little water to the unstrained broth, brought it to a simmer, then strained it.  In the end, I only used the jar on the right, since I have so much meat left, I wanted to keep at least a quart for future recipes.  Put this group of ingredients into the original pot after it's been cleaned.  Saute' and stir until a little  browning begins.  Add 4oz. water and repeat the browning process.  Do this a couple times.  To add a nice richness, use 4oz. of your favorite wine or beer the last time.

Add the vegetables, then pour about a quart of the meat broth you've made, over everything.  Simmer a half hour, covered.  Add any necessary seasonings, more adobo, Rosemary Seasoning, or a couple tablespoons of a good quality beef soup base.  Bring back to a simmer and serve.  This is wonderful soup, just as is, or you could served it with some crusty, buttered ciabatta bread.  Mmmm.  A big bowl of this will cure what ails you.  There have been times I was SO sick and had a bowl of this and I'm pretty sure it brought me back from death's door.

Ahhh. . .Soup. . .It'll heal you. . .heart, soul, mind and body. . .😋. . . Lin

Scotch Broth - Lamb and Barley Soup

1¼# of lean lamb

1-2T avocado oil

1-2t white balsamic vinegar

1 lg. purple shallot

1-2t Rosemary Seasoning *

4 med. carrots - scrubbed

1½c chopped celery and tops

¾c long cooking pearl barley

1-2T flour

2-3 quarts water

3 bay leaves

1 lg. purple shallot 

1 sweet yellow pepper

Vegetable Better Than Bouillon

Trim the fat off the lamb then cut the meat into small cubes.  Put in a 4-5 qt. pot with the oil, vinegar, minced shallot and Rosemary Seasoning.  Sauté and stir until the meat begins to brown.

  

Add the chopped carrots, celery, barely and continue to stir and cook until everything's sizzling.  Sprinkle on the flour and stir it in.  Pour in the water, a little at a time. Add bay leaves, rough chopped shallot, slice-chopped pepper, stir to combine everything, cover and simmer on low a half hour.  Check flavor, and make any corrections.  Soup will be ready when celery and carrots are tender and the barley is just a little chewy.

Mmmmm. . . Soup's On! . . Lin

Lamb and Barley Soup (a.k.a. Scotch Broth)

¾# well trimmed lamb

⅓ big purple shallot - minced

½t fresh ground black pepper

½t rosemary seasoning *

1-2T butter

1c chopped celery

1c chopped carrot

½c long-cooking pearl barley - rinsed

1-2T vegetable Better Than Bullion

fresh cold water

2 giant garlic cloves - chopped

rest of the shallot - sliced

If I were ever told I could only make one type of soup for the rest of my life - this would be the one!  After trimming the fat, cut the lamb into small pieces and combine with the remaining ingredients in a 3 quart pot.  Heat on medium-high heat until the water in the meat evaporates, and the lamb begins to brown.  Add a little water, stir and repeat the browning and deglazing several times to build flavor.  Add the next group of ingredients with about 3 cups of water.  Cover and simmer for half an hour, then add the garlic and shallot, adding more water if needed.  Re-cover and simmer another half hour.

You can serve this as soon as the vegetables and barley are cooked, but I'd recommend chilling then reheating it several hours or a day later.  The flavors build nicely by doing this, making it a great, hearty soup to cook the day before.  The barley provides enough good carbs, but if you are a bread person, some warm, buttered potato rolls would go great with a big steamy bowl of this.😊. . . Lin

Coconut-Ginger-Peanut Lamb Curry

2# boneless lamb leg

2T coconut oil

5 cloves garlic - chopped

1 med. onion - chopped

white wine or water

3 carrots - sliced

½ med. zucchini - chunked

4-5 celery ribs - sliced

1-2T beef soup base

1-2c water

2 lg. potatoes - cubed

2T curry paste

1"x1½" cube of fresh ginger

½-1c crunchy peanut butter

½-1c big golden raisins

6-8oz. coconut milk

Cut the lamb into 1" cubes, cutting off all the fat.  Saute' in coconut oil with the garlic and about ⅓ of the onion, finely chopped.  If there's a lot of liquid in the pot after 10 minutes or so, use a turkey baster to suction that out, straining it and setting it aside for now.  Sizzle and brown the meat, deglazing the pot with a little white wine or water.

When nicely browned, add the first group of vegetables, soup base and water.  Simmer about 15 minutes, then add potatoes, the cooking liquid from before, and everything else but the coconut milk.  Cover and continue to simmer another 20-30 minutes.  When all the vegetables are cooked as you like them, add coconut milk, stir and serve as is, or over rice.  This will be really good now, but even better after chilling and reheating in a day or so.  😋 . . . Lin

3-Meat Meatloaf

1# chorizo

1# ground lamb

1# ground chicken

½ lg. onion - chopped

4oz. tomato paste

1c quick oats

2 lg. eggs

salt & pepper

Mix everything together in a medium roasting pan.  Shape into loaves, top with a little ketchup and a sprinkle of green herbs.  Bake an hour at 350°.

Serve with a side of steamed vegetables, baked or mashed potatoes, or a spiralized vegetable casserole 😉 Cold meatloaf, cut thin, is great for sandwiches.  This freezes well too, if you decide to have one meatloaf now and save the other for later.  I've also crumbled this into a good red sauce, served over pasta for a quick dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce.  Have Fun - Be Creative - Happy Cooking! . . . Lin

Lamb and Vegetable Healthy Grain Soup

lamb leg bone and 1# meat

1t Rosemary Seasoning *

4c water

3 med. carrots - chopped

2 stalks celery - chopped

½ green pepper - chopped

6 lg. cloves of garlic

3T butter or olive oil

½ lg. onion

⅓c wild rice

⅔c long cooking barley

3 bay leaves

1T dry parsley

½-1t dry thyme

½t Rosemary Seasoning *

2-3T powdered beef soup base

This soup is a throwback to the days before I was an adventurous cook. 😉  Back then, when I wanted soup, I'd buy cans of Campbell's Soup.  I'd make 'Quick Vegetable Soup' when my children were little, by combining a large can of Campbell's Vegetable Soup, and one can each of corn, green beans and diced tomatoes.  I'd just open the cans and put them all in a big pot, liquid and all.  Stir, heat and we'd have a big pot of soup in no time!  That brings back memories and actually still sounds good to me!  My favorite though was Campbell's Scotch Broth.  This recipe is my adaptation of that.  

Cut the fat off the meat, put it in a 3qt. pot with seasoning and water.  Simmer 45-60 minutes, remove meat, strain the broth several times with a successively smaller strainer each time.  When all the particles have been strained out, cover the pot and chill for a couple hours.  At the end of the chilling time, scrape any fat off the top of the broth.

Meanwhile, rinse the barley and rice in a strainer, to remove starch and grain powder.  Put strainer on a wad of paper towels.  In a 5qt. pot, combine vegetables, rice, and butter-oil.  Stir and saute' a few minutes until everything's snapping.  Add a cup or two of water, stir, add seasonings, cover and turn off the heat.

Cut meat off the bone and add to the vegetable pot.  When the broth is skimmed, pour into the large pot, simmer everything together about an hour, until the rice is cooked.  Check flavors and water amount, making any necessary adjustments.  I love this soup, it's one of my favorites.  It's a delicious, healing soup that makes me feel wonderful each time I have it. . 😊 . .Lin

Lamb Stew

1½# lamb 

5-6 cloves of garlic

1 med. purple onion

2T Italian flavored olive oil

1T Rosemary Seasoning *

6-12oz beer

2 stalks celery

2 big carrots

1c Ajvar

1-2c water

Cut all the fat off the lamb, then cut the meat into bite-size pieces.  Saute' the lamb, meat and bones, with the garlic and onion in the olive oil for about 10 minutes.  Add seasoning, beer, chopped celery and carrot, Ajvar and water.  Simmer 30-60 minutes.  This goes together quickly, but you can reduce the heat and continue to simmer longer if you'd like - to develop the flavors.

Makes 3-4 big servings and is excellent on a cold day.  This morning I awoke to -22°F, so this was a perfect late lunch - early dinner.  It would go well with buttered, crusty artisan bread. . .Lin

Beer and Mushroom Lamb Stew

1# lamb leg steak meat

¼ of a lg. onion - minced

2T butter or bacon grease

1t Rosemary Seasoning * 

1 can ± beer

8oz. mushrooms - quartered or sliced

Trim all the fat off the lamb, cut it into pieces or cubes then combine it with the other 3 ingredients in a 5qt. pot.  Bring to a simmer, increasing the heat as the meat releases the water within it.  Once it begins to brown, use a little of the beer to deglaze the pan.  Let it brown again, then hit it with a little more beer.  Continue this process until the meat is nicely browned, 4-6 times.  Toward the end of this process, stir in the mushrooms and let them go through a couple brownings and deglazing, with a longer simmer after the last addition of beer.

2 big carrots - scrubbed-sliced

4 stalks celery - sliced

¾ of a lg. onion - chopped

1 lg. turnip - sliced-chopped

Add this group of vegetables and 2 cups of water.  If you'd like, you could add a can or two of petite diced tomatoes.  Simmer 45 minutes to an hour.  Check the flavors at this point.  If it's tasting a little bland, you could add some powdered beef soup base or some curry paste, depending on what sounds good to you.  If the gravy's too thin, add a flour and water roux to thicken it.  Continue to simmer longer until the vegetables are the way you like them.

I wanted to keep this a little lower in carbs so I didn't add potatoes or barley, but either of those would be great.  (The beer was Coors Light 😉)  I suppose this seems like a strange thing to be cooking over 4th of July weekend, one of the hottest of the summer, but I saw the lamb in the freezer and it sounded so good.  And. . .as far as I'm concerned, it's ALWAYS Soup and Stew Season. . .Lin

Mmmmeatloaf! With Pork and Turkey and Lamb - Oh My!!

2 large eggs

2 grated carrots

1-1/2c rolled oats

1 med. chopped onion

1 14.5oz. diced fire-roasted tomatoes

1# each: ground pork, turkey & lamb

½t± ground red and black pepper

1-2t± fresh ground garlic sea salt

1t± dried-crushed rosemary

Mix everything together in a large bowl with your hands or a wooden spoon.  Let stand 10-15 minutes to blend all the flavors while preheating the oven to 350°.  Form into 2-3 loaves, which freeze nicely either at this point, or after baking.  Bake about 1 hour.  It's always nice to have a healthy-comfort-food meatloaf in the freezer to give to a friend when they're sick, or on a busy day when you don't feel like messing with food prep.

Meatloaf is great with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables, baked potatoes and fresh green beans - or - as shown here, with chopped kale and assorted baby potatoes, steamed together, covered, in a little water until it evaporates.  Finish with fresh ground sea salt & garlic, fresh ground pepper and a little sour cream, on the stove. . .Be Creative - Happy Cooking! . . .Lin

Leg Of Lamb Stew

1# lean lamb cut in cubes
2T butter
4 lg. cloves minced garlic
1 med. onion - chopped
4-6 c water
leftover lamb gravy with fat skimmed off
3 stalks celery - sliced
2-3 carrots - sliced
4 lg. scrubbed red potatoes - quartered

salt and pepper, beef soup base if needed

Brown the lamb, garlic and a little bit of onion in the butter.  Deglaze the pan with a little water or beer.  Repeat this process several times until the meat and the pan are a rich warm brown.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer, on low heat, for at least an hour.  You could serve it now, but this always tastes better after being chilled then reheated the next day.  Serve with some really good crusty bread. . .Lin

Lamb and Barley Soup

1# ground or cubed lean lamb

12oz. Pale Ale

1 med. onion

1½c chopped celery

2 med. chopped carrots

3 lg. cloves minced garlic

¾c pearled barley

Saute' the lamb with 1/3 onion, finely chopped in a little butter or olive oil. Brown and deglaze with a little of the ale at a time until meat is very brown. Pour in remaining ale, add all the vegetables and barley. Stir and simmer a few minutes.

Add 4-6c water. Bring soup to a low boil, simmer until barley is done, approximately an hour. Half way through this time, check broth for flavor, adding beef soup base as needed. Serve with a tossed salad and/or crusty bread. . .Lin