Lamb

For stress-free, no-sweat hosting, grill the lamb a few hours ahead of time and slice it at room temperature.

As the lamb cooks inside the pita, the fat will render into the bread, creating a crunchy, compact, vibrantly flavored meat pie that's unlike any burger you've ever had.

A minty spice rub perfumes these succulent lamb chops with tons of flavor.

Serve these skewers with grilled pita and yogurt mixed with a little Maras pepper, olive oil, and chopped mint.

Whether you spell it kefta or köfte or kufte or some other variation, you can find versions of these lamb or beef meatballs throughout the Middle East. The seasoning mixture here is simple, with spices you should already have on your shelf and you can play around, adding fresh or dried mint, grated onion, or a pinch of cinnamon. And if you like a garlicky yogurt sauce, by all means, add a minced clove.

Lamb shoulder is a little fattier than the leg, and becomes meltingly tender in Williams's mostly hands-off method. Earmark this one for your next dinner party.

Lamb is traditionally served at Easter in Italy as well as many other countries. Although author Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez grew up with the roasted legs of lamb prepared by her mother and grandmother, she prefers to braise a lamb shoulder. The meat turns out so tender and succulent that it's impossible to slice with a carving knife. Instead, it's pulled with a meat fork into moist, rich chunks. Depending on where you live, lamb shoulder may require a special order so be sure to allow time for a butcher to request it.

This recipe calls for fairly small racks of lamb, about a pound each. If your lamb is larger, the cooking time will increase, but you can get away with serving single, not double, chops.

Affordable leg of lamb is a great way to break out of the usual beef-chicken-pork rut, especially when used in a quick-cooking but complex-tasting dish like this.

One whiff of this hearty, fragrant sauce bubbling on your stove and you'll think you've just parachuted into the Apennines right in front of a trattoria, in sheep country. The mountains of central Italy—notably in the Abruzzo and Molise regions—have always been populated by shepherds. Consequently, lamb is the basic meat, and the cheeses are made from sheep's milk. Shoulder would be our cut of choice, but really any lamb stew meat will do. Even though the recipe calls for boneless meat, if you have some lamb on the bone, throw it in. The bones will add flavor and will be easy to remove once the sauce is cooked. Lamb is fatty, so the sauce will benefit from overnight chilling and subsequent degreasing. But if you can't bear to throw away that yummy lamb fat, roast some potatoes Italian style—cut up in small pieces with lots of rosemary—and use the lamb fat instead of olive oil.

At first glance, this might look like a simple lamb stew, but you will be delighted by its finesse when you remove the lamb from the bone, return it to the pot, and toss with your favorite pasta. The secret to this deep and succulent sauce is the Basic Fond de Veau , a reduced veal stock whose unctuousness is well worth the extra preparation. The lamb can be made ahead, to concentrate the flavors. This ragout makes a surprisingly satisfying dish for entertaining.

The tart sweetness of the pomegranate cuts through the richness of the lamb.

Tender and richly flavored, this roast is a hearty crowd-pleaser to serve for Hanukkah (or any cold night).

This thin, crisp Turkish flatbread is typically rolled into a cone before eating.

A surprisingly easy sweet-tart lamb roast is just the thing to feed a crowd this Easter.

Thanks to two very hands-off methods for the lamb and polenta, this is an excellent choice for a dinner party.

Cooked gently over a low heat, lamb shank becomes meltingly tender—perfect for an elegant, restorative broth.

The lamb needs to marinate overnight, so be sure to start 1 day ahead.

We had to include this fantastic recipe because the marriage of fresh ginger, garlic, mint, feta cheese, spinach, and freshly ground lamb with complementary spicy seasonings grilled over direct heat yields an outstanding flavor. Cover them with Spicy Afghan Green Sauce and you'll be serving one of the most remarkable backyard barbecues ever. Friends who think they don't like lamb will rave about these meatballs.