Spice Rubbed Lamb Skewers With Herb Yogurt Sauce Recipes

LAMB SKEWERS WITH SPICY YOGURT DRESSING

Steps:

• The day before serving, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over low heat. Add the onions and cook slowly until translucent, about 30 minutes. Drain any excess oil.
• Break the ground lamb up into a bowl. Add the onions, scallions, garlic, mint, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to serve, soak 16 six-inch wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes. (This helps prevent the skewers from burning on the grill.) Preheat a grill (high heat).
• Divide the lamb mixture into 16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a 1-inch diameter log, approximately 3-inches long. Thread each piece lengthwise onto a skewer.
• Grill lamb to medium rare, turning once, about 5 minutes. Serve with Spicy Yogurt Dressing.
• To make the dressing: Mix the yogurt, cayenne, and mint in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature with the lamb skewers.

SPICE-RUBBED LAMB RACK WITH YOGURT AND FRESH HERBS

Steps:

• Make the spice rub: Combine the peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and cumin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat; cook, stirring, until toasted, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. In a small bowl, mix the freshly ground spices with the paprika, cayenne and 1 teaspoon salt.
• Preheat a grill to medium high and prepare for indirect grilling: For a charcoal grill, bank the hot coals to one side and leave the other half empty. For a gas grill, preheat all the burners, then turn off half the burners and keep the others on medium-high heat.
• Grill the lamb: Coat the lamb with the olive oil and sprinkle with the spice mixture. Grill over direct heat, turning as needed, until browned all over, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to indirect heat (the unlit side of the grill); cover and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the lamb registers 125 degrees F for medium-rare doneness, 20 to 24 minutes. Transfer the lamb to a cutting board and let rest 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the yogurt sauce: In a small bowl, mix the labne, olive oil, herbs, Aleppo pepper, lemon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Season with salt, black pepper and more lemon juice, if desired. Carve the lamb racks and serve with the yogurt sauce.

LAMB SOUVLAKI WITH YOGURT-GARLIC SAUCE

Steps:

• For souvlaki, mix first 5 ingredients to make a marinade and set aside. Distribute lamb, bell peppers, onion and tomatoes among 8 skewers. Place in a large shallow pan with marinade. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, rotating skewers once. Heat a gas grill to medium, or use a charcoal grill and allow the coals to turn a light-ash color. Coat grill with cooking spray. Grill until lamb is medium rare and lightly charred, 5 to 8 minutes. Rotate to cook evenly. To cook in oven, broil on metal skewers 6 minutes, rotating until evenly browned. Grill or toast pitas. For sauce, puree cucumbers and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Place in a fine-screen colander and squeeze out the juice. Reserve juice and discard pulp. Whisk cucumber and lemon juices in a bowl with yogurt. Mix in garlic; season with salt and pepper. Serve with pitas and skewers.

GRILLED LEG OF LAMB WITH SPICY LIME YOGURT SAUCE

Steps:

• Pat lamb dry with paper towels and place it on a rimmed baking sheet. In a bowl, combine oil, herbs, orange zest and juice, the minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Rub mixture all over lamb. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
• Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt if you like.
• Heat the grill. Wipe lamb with paper towels, removing most of the rub, then grill until a digital thermometer reads 120 degrees for rare or 130 for medium (about 6 to 15 minutes per side, depending on how you like your meat and how thick the lamb is). If the meat starts to char before it's done, move it to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing and serving with the yogurt sauce.

MINT SAUCE FOR LAMB

Steps:

• Place mint leaves in a small bowl. Stir in water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper until sugar is dissolved. Cover and let steep for 20 minutes, then serve immediately with lamb.

SPICE RUBBED LAMB TENDERLOIN AND YOGURT SAUCE

Steps:

• For the spice rub: Stir together the paprika, cumin, mustard, fennel, salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
• For the yogurt sauce: Whisk together the yogurt, oregano clementine and lemon juices in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle each tenderloin liberally with the rub. Heat a grill or grill pan to high. Drizzle the lamb with the oil and grill until golden brown on both sides and cooked to medium-rare doness, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
• Serve with the yogurt sauce.

SPICED LAMB SKEWERS WITH LEMONY ONIONS

Steps:

• Season lamb with salt and pepper. Add cumin and turmeric and toss to coat. (This can be done up to 24 hours ahead, if you like.)
• If you're using a charcoal grill, build the fire so it's screaming hot. This lamb is to be cooked hot and fast so it can stay nicely medium-rare, so the hotter the better. If you're using a gas grill, set it on high. Bring a clean platter, cutting board or baking dish out to the grill for the skewers to rest in after cooking.
• Combine onion, sumac (if using) and 3 tablespoons lemon juice; season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Set aside.
• Combine yogurt and remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Skewer the lamb onto wooden or metal skewers, 2 to 4 pieces per skewer.
• Once the grill is hot, cook the skewers on all sides until deeply browned and lightly charred all over, 2 to 3 minutes per side (less time for smaller pieces), moving the skewers around as needed to prevent excessive flare-ups. (If you've trimmed most of the fat away from the lamb, the flare-ups shouldn't be too bad.)
• Transfer the skewers to the platter, cutting board or baking dish to rest for a few minutes and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with the dressed onions, lemony yogurt, cilantro, olives, lavash and any pickled vegetables or peppers you like.

HERBED LAMB KEBABS WITH YOGURT SAUCE

Steps:

• Cut the lamb shoulder across the grain in thin slices with a sharp knife, flatten the slices between sheets of plastic wrap until they are 1/8 inch thick, and cut them into 1-inch-wide strips.
• In a saucepan whisk together the lemon juice, the thyme, the rosemary, the oregano, the pepper, and the salt, add the oil in a stream, whisking, and whisk the marinate until it is emulsified. Add the lamb strips, stir the mixture to coat the strips well with the marinade, and thread them onto the skewers, reserving the remaining marinade. Arrange the kebabs on the rack of a broiling pan, broil them under a preheated broiler about 3 inches from the heat, turning them once, for 6 minutes, and transfer them to a plate. Transfer 2 tablespoons of the juice from the broiler pan to the reserved marinade and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, whisk in the yogurt and salt and pepper to taste, and spoon the sauce over the kebabs.

SPICE-RUBBED LEG OF LAMB WITH HARISSA YOGURT SAUCE

Steps:

• For the lamb: Use paper towels to pat dry the leg of lamb. In a small bowl, combine the salt, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, black pepper and cayenne. Season all sides of the lamb with the spice mixture and place on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Let sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes or place in the refrigerator overnight and allow to sit at room temperature for 45 minutes before cooking.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Drizzle the lamb with the olive oil, then roast for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until the internal temperature is 140 degrees F for medium, about 1 hour and 15 minutes more. Allow to rest before serving, 15 to 20 minutes, then slice.
• For the sauce: Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the harissa, yogurt and honey. Season with salt. Refrigerate until serving.
• For the optional garnish: Garnish with the pomegranate seeds, mint, scallions, good olive oil and sea salt if desired. Serve with the harissa yogurt sauce.