Turkish Meatballs (Köfte) w/ Chunky Eggplant Caviar

This evening I made Turkish Meatballs (Köfte) for dinner. What is Köfte you ask? It's a spiced Turkish style meatball that is usually grilled and often made with lamb or beef. It can be shaped like a traditional meatball or like I did this evening, made into small patties (similar to sliders). It is traditionally pressed and shaped around a skewer into an oblong "log shape" and grilled. There are numerous variations and spices used. 

Since it was freezing cold here today, grilling was completely out of the question. I had picked up ground lamb to make these with but when I opened the package, I almost passed out from the smell, so I had hubby stop by the store on his way home to pick up a package of ground beef to use instead. While I was waiting for him to pick up the meat, I went ahead and put together a quick little tzatziki yogurt sauce to serve with the Köfte. I also made a side dish to serve with them.

I made a Chunky Eggplant Caviar for our side dish. It turned out absolutely amazing. The eggplant was beautiful on the outside and even more so on the inside. It had almost no seeds and had nice solid white flesh. 

To make the eggplant caviar, I diced about 1/4 of a medium onion and began sauteing it in olive oil while I diced the eggplant into small dice and minced a large clove of garlic. When the onions began to soften, I added the garlic and sauteed it for a few minutes, then added the diced eggplant to my pot. Eggplant sucks oil up like a sponge, so I added a bit more olive oil and stirred frequently. As it continued to cook, rather than continuously add oil, I added a few tablespoons of water to my pot and covered it and cooked it until tender, stirring occasionally. I diced half of a red bell pepper and added that to the pot along with another splash of olive oil and covered the pot back up to soften the peppers. When everything was softened and cooked, I added a few heaping tablespoons of some oven roasted tomatoes packed in oil; then seasoned with salt and pepper and covered the pot and continued cooking on low another 15 minutes or so. I added some chopped fresh parsley right before serving. It turned out amazing...it was flavorful, tender and buttery soft and was the perfect accompaniment to the Köfte. I snapped a few photos as well as included the recipe for my Köfte below. Enjoy!

Turkish Meatballs (Köfte)

Ingredients:

1 pound ground lamb or beef
1 teaspoon roasted ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika, or to taste (or substitute cayenne pepper)
1/4 teaspoon dried mint
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup grated onion
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
3 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients, mixing with your hands until evenly combined. Divide mixture into 8 equal sized portions and roll into balls or small patties. Add ghee or oil to a heavy skillet and cook over medium high heat until browned and desired doneness. Alternatively they can be grilled, if desired. Serve with tzatziki or other yogurt sauce, if desired.

   

Grilled Turkish Style Lamb Chops & Parmesan Cauliflower Mash w/ Oven Roasted Tomatoes

This evening I made Turkish Style Lamb Chops for dinner. This weekend I picked up some beautiful loin lamb chops from Costco. They are so tender and delicious. If you've never had a loin style lamb chop before, they are like a miniature porterhouse steaks. They are so easy to prepare. I simply mixed the freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons and about 1/4 cup of olive oil together along with a teaspoonful of Turkish Seasoning I picked up at Penzeys Spices over the weekend. I usually like to give them a Greek flavor with lemon, garlic and rosemary...but this particular Turkish spice blend was amazing and I actually preferred this flavor over the Greek style. After whisking together the lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning, I seasoned both sides of the lamb chops with additional Turkish Seasoning and then placed them in a shallow glass casserole dish and poured the marinade over the chops. I kept them out at room temperature since I only marinated them for about 30 minutes or so. I turned them over after 15 minutes to allow the other side to sit in the marinade. Since these lamb chops are so tender, they don't need to marinate long at all. We grilled them for about 5 minutes per side.

To go with our lamb chops, I made my Parmesan Cauliflower Mash but decided to give it a different twist. I added a couple rounded tablespoonfuls of oven roasted tomatoes packed in oil (that I buy at Costco) to the cooked cauliflower along with cream, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and butter before pureeing it with my stick blender. I absolutely love my stick blender for making cauliflower mash. You can puree it in the same pan you cooked it in without having to transfer it to a blender or food processor and then returning to the pan. Less mess and clean up and it makes it easy to cover the pan and keep warm or reheat slightly before serving. This cauliflower mash is absolutely smooth and luscious; you will never miss mashed potatoes after trying it! I snapped a few photos for you to see below. Here's the link to my recipe for: "Rich & Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash". The only modification I made to it this evening was the addition of the roasted tomatoes before pureeing. Enjoy!

Oven roasted tomatoes added to the cooked cauliflower before pureeing

Luscious cauliflower mash cooked in chicken broth and pureed with cream, butter, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and oven roasted tomatoes -- better than mashed potatoes!

Easy Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops w/ Roasted Baby Brussels Sprouts

This evening I prepared the lamb shoulder chops I purchased from Sprouts this weekend. They're a different cut than the loin lamb chops I usually buy. They actually were very flavorful. I had intended to marinate them during the day but forgot to so when I got home I whisked together a quick little marinade to add some flavor and tenderize them a bit. I marinated my chops for about 45 minutes until hubby got home to grill them. They took 10 minutes or less to grill.

To go with our lamb chops, I trimmed the bag of fresh baby brussels sprouts I picked up at Sprouts (LOL on sprouts from Sprouts). Since they were so small and cute, I kept them whole rather than halving them. I steamed them for about 4 minutes in a couple tablespoons of water in the microwave on high and then spread them on a baking sheet and tossed them with some olive oil and seasoned them with a bit of sea salt (the Pink Himalayan sea salt also bought at Sprouts). I roasted them for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees and then stirred in a few heaping tablespoons of oven roasted tomatoes packed in oil (that I find at Costco) and continued roasting the sprouts along with the tomatoes for another 5 to 10 minutes. The tomatoes added a nice deep flavor to the sprouts and it was a perfect side dish to go with our grilled lamb chops. I snapped a few photos for you to see below as well as included the easy little marinade I put together. Enjoy!

Greek Style Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops

This evening I grilled the beautiful Australian loin lamb chops that I picked up at Costco yesterday. I marinated them with a simple fresh marinade consisting of lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, fresh herbs from my patio garden (rosemary, Italian parsley and oregano), garlic, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. I marinated them for about 4 to 5 hours. The flavors permeate the meat and the lemon juice makes the lamb chops even more tender. I served them with fresh asparagus drizzled with macadamia nut oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and then oven roasted for about 20 minutes. I served my Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits along with the meal. I added baked sweet potatoes for hubby and both sons. It was absolutely delicious. These lamb chops were so meaty that 2 chops was a very generous serving. I'm sending the leftovers home with my oldest son. As a side note, I can't say enough about how nice and evenly our Weber grill cooks our meats. The difference between this and our old grill is like night and day. I snapped a few photos of our meal below. The link to the marinade with the specific amounts is here: Greek Style Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops. Enjoy!

Grilled Lamb Chops, Parmesan Cauliflower Mash & Buttered Haricots Verts

We had a fairly lazy Saturday and made our weekly Costco run late this afternoon. While at Costco we picked up a package of their Australian lamb chops. They have some of the most beautiful lamb chops I have ever seen anywhere. They are big, thick and meaty and not overly fatty as lamb can sometimes be. They look like miniature porterhouse steaks. When we got home, I decided to go ahead and make Marinated Grilled Lamb Chops for dinner. Since we got home late, we didn't have a lot of time to marinate them, I seasoned and rubbed them with the marinade ingredients and let them sit for about 30 minutes or so. They turned out great but its best if you can allow them to marinate for a few hours because the flavors penetrate the meat better. I served the lamb chops with my Rich and Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash and steamed, buttered fresh haricots verts (thin green beans) on the side. I used Kerrygold's Garlic & Herb Butter to season the haricots verts and added a tablespoon of the garlic and herb butter to the cauliflower mash to add flavor, too. It was a delicious meal and nice having a mild day here to grill out. I snapped a few photos of our dinner below. The links to the recipes for the lamb and cauliflower are above (in the different colored text links). Enjoy!

Sunday Night's Greek Style Marinated Grilled Lamb Chops & Roasted Asparagus

Tonight I made the lamb chops that I had originally planned to make last night, but ran out of time to marinate them long enough.  I made Greek Style Marinated Lamb Chops with Roasted Asparagus and then sliced some mini San Marzano tomatoes and tossed them in a little extra virgin olive oil, pomegranate vinegar and salt and pepper. Roasted asparagus is so simple to make -- I just cut off the tough bottom part of the stems, toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them in a single layer on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus.  The marinade for the lamb chops contains olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh rosemary and parsley, lots of garlic, salt and pepper.  It was a fresh, flavorful and simple dinner. Below are a few pictures as well the recipe for the lamb chops embedded in the link above.  Enjoy!

BOOM!

Greek Style Marinated Grilled Lamb Chops

Happy Saturday!  Last night I didn't need to cook because we had leftovers to finish up for dinner.  I finished my leftover chicken scampi-ish for lunch yesterday and then ate the other half of my calzone for dinner.  Not cooking gave me the time to make my weekly Costco run after dinner last night instead of this morning.  Costco is usually such a zoo on Saturdays and Sundays -- but it is a ghost town on Friday evenings (guess that isn't how most people choose to spend their Friday nights).  I was hoping to find some fresh wild caught fish but all they had last night was farmed, so I passed on fish.  However, they did have some really beautiful loin lamb chops (they look like miniature porterhouse steaks), so I picked up a 2-lb package of them to grill for tonight's dinner.  I ran a few errands this morning and picked up what I needed to make the Greek style marinade for them.  I prefer to use fresh herbs if I have them and the only herb I couldn't find that looked good fresh was oregano...so I just substituted dried oregano instead.  I marinated my lamb chops for about 4 hours.  This marinade intentionally does not have a lot of volume -- basically just enough to coat the chops with the herbs, lemon and garlic and not have them swimming in it.  Lamb chops are usually very tender and don't need a lot of acidity or tenderizing.  I like to marinate them before grilling to give them a punch of flavor.  I used fresh rosemary, Italian parsley, dried oregano, black pepper, sea salt, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest and...garlic, of course -- 4 cloves!!!   If you don't care for lamb, you could also use this marinade for chicken too (either boneless or on the bone).  I am going to make my Rich & Thick Parmesan Mash to go with them with some fresh green beans that I also picked up at Costco last night (the haricots verts french beans).  I love those beans -- they are thin, crisp and fresh.  The lamb chops were unusually beautiful so I snapped a picture for you to see them before I placed them in the marinade.  I also snapped a few photos of the finished meal for you to see as well as my marinade recipe.  Enjoy!

Greek Style Marinated Grilled Lamb Chops


INGREDIENTS:

Marinade
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 large lemon
Zest of the large lemon used above (about 2 teaspoons)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon if fresh)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
2 lbs loin lamb chops (or chicken, if preferred)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Place lamb chops (or chicken) in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and pour marinade over them.  Close bag, removing as much air as possible.  Marinate in the refirgerator about 4 hours or longer, if desired.  Grill to desired doneness.