This recipe was sent to me by Melinda, who supplies our farm market with eggs. It was originally posted on zenbelly.com. Thanks for sending it to us – it looks delicious.

1 tablespoon butter, ghee, or coconut oil
2 pounds lamb stew meat
2 medium onions, sliced
2 large tomatoes, chopped (about 4 cups)
2 inches / about 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
6 cloves / about 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon cayenne *
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon tumeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon salt
4 cardamom pods (optional)
6 whole cloves (optional)
2 small sweet potatoes, cubed (optional)

Combine the garlic, ginger, ground coriander, garam masala, tumeric, cayenne, ground cardamom and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a cast iron or stainless pot, melt the butter, ghee or coconut oil over medium high heat.
Sear the lamb in batches, 2 minutes or so per side. Set aside.
Add the onions, turn the heat down to medium, and saute over medium heat for about 8 -10 minutes, until golden brown.
Stir in the garlic / ginger / spice mixture and saute for one minute, stirring constantly.
Add the tomatoes and their juice. If they’re very dry, add a bit of water to make sure the spices don’t burn.
Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes and transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and puree.
Return the lamb and sauce back to the pot along with the optional whole spices.
Simmer over low heat until the lamb is fork tender, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours.
If using sweet potato, add it to the pot 15-20 minutes before the lamb is done. Continue to simmer until it’s tender.
Serve over coconut “rice” or cauliflower rice

* I simmered this curry with 2 whole fresh cayenne peppers, expecting them to give a bit of heat, but they didn’t. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, which gave it a good kick, and was the perfect heat for us. But it’s a personal thing! If you’re sensitive to heat, add a bit less, and if you’re a total animal, feel free to add a bit more. Thanks for sending it. It looks delicious!

1 tablespoon butter, ghee, or coconut oil
2 pounds lamb stew meat
2 medium onions, sliced
2 large tomatoes, chopped (about 4 cups)
2 inches / about 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
6 cloves / about 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon cayenne *
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon tumeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon salt
4 cardamom pods (optional)
6 whole cloves (optional)
2 small sweet potatoes, cubed (optional)

Combine the garlic, ginger, ground coriander, garam masala, tumeric, cayenne, ground cardamom and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a cast iron or stainless pot, melt the butter, ghee or coconut oil over medium high heat.
Sear the lamb in batches, 2 minutes or so per side. Set aside.
Add the onions, turn the heat down to medium, and saute over medium heat for about 8 -10 minutes, until golden brown.
Stir in the garlic / ginger / spice mixture and saute for one minute, stirring constantly.
Add the tomatoes and their juice. If they’re very dry, add a bit of water to make sure the spices don’t burn.
Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes and transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and puree.
Return the lamb and sauce back to the pot along with the optional whole spices.
Simmer over low heat until the lamb is fork tender, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours.
If using sweet potato, add it to the pot 15-20 minutes before the lamb is done. Continue to simmer until it’s tender.
Serve over coconut “rice” or cauliflower rice

* I simmered this curry with 2 whole fresh cayenne peppers, expecting them to give a bit of heat, but they didn’t. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, which gave it a good kick, and was the perfect heat for us. But it’s a personal thing! If you’re sensitive to heat, add a bit less, and if you’re a total animal, feel free to add a bit more.

Our thanks to our farm store customers who passed on this recipe to us. I haven’t tried it yet myself, but I hear from them that it tastes wonderful. Here it is, reprinted from Eric Akis’ column in the Times Colonist. Eric suggests this be served with a green vegetable and couscous, orzo or boiled mini potatoes.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: About 2 1/2 hours
Makes: 2 servings.

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 lamb shanks (each about 400 grams)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 C. tomato sauce
1/4 C. red wine
1/4 C. orange juice
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. herbes de Provence
1/4 tsp. ground coriander seed
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 – 1/2 C. pitted dried Moroccan olives, nicoise olives or kalamata olives
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint or parsley
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Place the oil in a skillet set over medium-high heat. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and then brown well on all sides. Set the shanks in a single layer in a medium-size casserole (mine was about 12 inches long and 8 inches wide). Drain all but 2 tsp. of fat from the skillet. Lower the heat under the skillet to medium.
Add onion and garlic and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except mint or parsley, and bring to a simmer. Pour mixture over lamb.
Cover and bake the lamb until very tender, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Skim any fat from the surface, then set a lamb shank on each of two plates. Top with sauce, sprinkle with mint or parsley and serve.

This recipe comes from Guy Fieri, via Marisa McClellan, of the Food Network. We think it looks delicious but haven’t tried making it yet:

Leg O’Lamb Sandwich – The Weekender.

When I was younger, I was a voracious reader. One of my favorite book series in those days was the one about Betsy and Tacy, two girls growing up in the Midwest at the turn of the last century.

One of the events that occurs regularly in these books is Betsy’s family’s tradition of sharing their Sunday lunch with friends and family. This meal happens in the late afternoon and stars a giant platter of sandwiches that are always prepared by Betsy’s father.

Some weeks his sandwiches would feature cold roast meat, while others they’d be simple constructions of fried egg or thinly sliced onion that’d been well-seasoned. Served with coffee and slices of cake to follow, this seemed, to my mind, to be the perfect way to spend a Sunday evening.

Last week, suddenly hit by a craving for a Betsy-Tacy-style sandwich party, I went in search of a little sandwich inspiration. What I found was Guy Fieri’s Roasted Leg o’ Lamb Sandwich. It’s a three-part recipe that has you marinate and roast off a piece of lamb, make a spicy from-scratch mayonnaise and then shred fennel, cabbage, onion and Brussels sprouts into a crunchy topping.

Roasted Leg of LambI prepared my lamb as Guy suggests (though I didn’t cook it quite as long as he recommends — just for 90 minutes, until the internal temperature was 130 degrees F) and took inspiration from the other two components of his dish. The finished sandwiches were meaty and so flavorful. My friends adored them and I do believe a new Weekender tradition of Sunday sandwiches has been born.

Before you start cooking, read these tips:

— If you don’t have time to make a specialty sauce for these sandwiches, do what I did: Stir canned chipotles in adobo sauce into store-bought mayonnaise. It’s plenty zippy and delicious, but a whole heck of a lot easier.

— In place of the suggested slaw, I cut sprouts and fennel thinly with a handheld slicer and tossed them with salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil. This quick salad offers crunch and texture.

— If lamb isn’t your thing, substitute roast beef or pork. They both go well with the sauce and slaw.

Marisa McClellan is a food writer and canning teacher who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her food (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. Her first cookbook, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, is now available.

Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/02/roasted-leg-of-lamb-sandwich-the-weekender/?soc=dishfb&oc=linkback

Lavender Leg of Lamb
A friend of ours cooked this recipe for us once, and it was truly delicious! To purchase dried lavender flowers, I would recommend contacting Lynda Dowling at her lavender farm: http://www.happyvalleylavender.com/
1.5 pound Leg of lamb (boneless) 2 Tbsp Lavender flowers, dried
1 Tbsp White balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp Thyme, dried
1 tsp Whole sea salt 1 tsp red pepper flakes
½-1 cup Yogurt 1 large shallot
Wash and pat dry leg of lamb. (Do not remove netting or string.)
Drizzle with vinegar and rub in salt.
Mince shallot and stir into yogurt along with the other herbs and spices.
Spread yogurt mixture over leg of lamb in baking dish.
Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Bake at 200 °C (400 °F) for ca. 1.5 hour, covered with lid or unbleached baking paper.
Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Bake at 200 °C (400 °F) for ca. 1.5 hour, covered with lid or unbleached baking paper.

Honey-Lemon Rack of Lamb
• 2 racks of lamb, 7 to 8 ribs on each
• 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and cut in thin slivers
• salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped mint leaves or about 1 teaspoon dried mint leaves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Heat oven to 325°. Cut small slits all over the lamb and insert garlic slivers. Place the racks, bone side down, in a shallow roasting pan. Roast for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine honey, brown sugar, lemon juice, and garlic powder in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring, over medium-low heat, until sugar is dissolved; remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel, mint, and pecans.
Spoon the honey mixture over the lamb. Continue roasting, basting occasionally, for about 30 to 45 minutes longer, or to about 160° F. on a meat thermometer for medium.
To use a meat thermometer, insert it in the meat so that the tip is in the center of the meat and not touching bone or the roasting pan.
Serves 4.

Here is a great recipe for lamb shanks, submitted by one of our visitors to the farm store.  I couldn’t figure out how to add the photos, unfortunately! Thank you for sending this to us.

4 lamb shanks
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 small dried red chilli or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chilli
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 large carrot, quartered and finely sliced
6 sticks of celery, quartered and finely sliced
2 medium/large onions, quartered and finely chopped
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
170ml / 6fl oz dry white wine
6 anchovy fillets
2 x 400gr/14oz tins of plum tomatoes
1 handful of fresh basil, marjoram or flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Season the lamb with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Smash up the coriander seeds and dried chilli and mix with the chopped rosemary and dried marjoram.  Roll the lamb in this mixture, pressing it in well.  Dust the lamb with the flour.

Heat a thick-bottomed casserole pan, add the oil, brown the meat on all sides and then remove from the pan.  Add the garlic, carrot, celery, onions and a pinch of salt and sweat them until softened.  Add the balsamic vinegar and allow it to reduce to a syrup.  Pour in the white wine and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.  Add the anchovies (these really seem to intensify the lamb flavour) and then add the tinned tomatoes, kept whole.  Shake the pan and return the lamb to it.  Bring to the boil, put on the lid and simmer in the oven at 180C/350F/gas5 for 1 1/2 hours, then remove the lid and cook for a further 1/2 hour.  Skim off any fat and taste for seasoning.  Finally, stir in a handful of roughly chopped fresh basil, marjoram or flat-leaf parsley.

Enjoy!