Lamb What Am

Our adventures in lamb cookery continued this afternoon when we stoked up the grill for shish kabobs.

Here's how I made them: In one bowl I combined about 2 cups of plain low-fat yogurt with the juice and zest of a lemon; about a half a bulb of garlic, chopped; several substantial sprigs of fresh rosemary and some Greek oregano; a sploosh of olive oil; and sea salt and cracked pepper. To this I added maybe a pound and a half of lamb stew meat. (Since stew meat includes all the pieces-parts of our lamb that didn't fit neatly into standard cuts, we wound up with several bags.)

Meanwhile in another bowl I tossed chunks of zucchini and yellow squash, portabello chunks, wedges of Vidalia onion and grape tomatoes in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

After a couple of hours I skewered the meat and the veggies on separate kabobs, shaking the excess yogurt marinade off the lamb pieces as I worked.

When the charcoal was hot I placed the kabobs on a sheet of perforated foil on the upper level of the grill, with more vinegar marinade spooned over the top, and began cooking them. After about 12 minutes or so we placed the lamb kabobs on the lower grill.

We cooked the lamb until it was medium rare -- maybe 7 minutes on each side -- during which time we continued to marinate the veggies, which grilled up tender but not too soft.

I served this repast with a few balls of marinated fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe's, pita bread (great for soaking up that seasoned olive oil) and 2005 Simon Hackett Old Vine Grenache.

The lamb was indescribably good -- so good that we've decided we really don't need to shop for beef anymore; this has become our red meat of choice. I've blogged about the Simon Hackett before; it has a lovely blackberry flavor with enough tannin to keep things interesting but not enough to make it bitter or heavy on the palate.

Dessert consisted of white peaches, another indulgence from our trip to Ann Arbor, halved and grilled. Very tasty.