Leg of Lamb

Rice cooked in milk for a very long time, until it is a soft cream, is a specialty of Saudi Arabia. It serves as a bed for lamb, often a whole animal, presented on a tray with melted clarified butter trickled on top. It is said that in the city of Taif they make it better than in Jedda or Medina. It is similar to a medieval dish featured in al-Baghdadi’s manual (see appendix). Serve with a cucumber, lettuce, and tomato salad. Some people accompany it with honey, to be stirred into each portion separately.

Here is another Moroccan tagine. Buy the peas fresh and young, in the pod, when you can. Some supermarkets sell fresh shelled ones that are young and sweet, and frozen baby peas—petits pois—are also perfect to use.

Recipes for meat cooked in yogurt abound in medieval Arabic cookery manuals, where the dish was called madira. As early as the tenth century, the Arab writer Badia’z Zaman wrote a tale entitled “Al Madirya” about the dish. Such dishes are still popular in the Arab world. The name of this Lebanese version, which means “his mother’s milk,” implies that the meat of a young animal is cooked in its own mother’s milk. It can be made with chunks of meat or lamb shanks. Serve with plain rice (page 337) or rice with vermicelli (page 340).

This is a version, using fillo pastry, of a Greek dish of lamb baked in parchment packets.

Meats grilled on skewers have become the best-known Middle Eastern foods as the standard fare of Lebanese, Turkish, and Iranian restaurants abroad. They are a symbol, in particular, of Turkish food. Turks say that this way of cooking meat was created during the conquering era of the Ottoman Empire, when Turkish soldiers, forced to camp out in tents for months on end, discovered the pleasures of eating meat grilled out of doors on wood fires. Twenty years ago, on a gastronomic visit to Turkey, I went with an interpreter on an arranged tour of kebab houses in Istanbul. At every stop I was invited to eat. It became a grand marathon—une grande bouffe. At the fifth establishment they opened the refrigerated room and showed me all the prize cuts, which were later presented to me straight from the fire on a gigantic plate. As well as the kebabs and ground-meat kofta kebab on skewers, there were small lamb chops, kidneys, slices of calf’s liver, beef steaks, sucuk (spicy beef sausages), and pieces of chicken. It was a gourmand’s dream, but for a woman already satiated from eating elsewhere and afraid of giving offense, it was a nightmare. In Greece and Turkey, alternating pieces of onion, tomato, and bell pepper are threaded onto the skewers in between the cubes of meat. This looks good, but it is not a good idea, as the meat and vegetables take different times to cook and the meat becomes wet and does not get properly seared. So, if you must have roasted vegetables, have them on another skewer, or straight on the grill. In some countries, lumps of fat are pressed between pieces of meat to keep them from drying out as the fat melts.

A Turkish specialty. The meat becomes so tender you can pull pieces off with your fingers.

My aunt Latifa and uncle Mousa lived in a villa in a suburb of Cairo. It was large and housed their extended family. There was no oven. Much of the cooking was done over a mangal (portable outdoor grill) and a Primus oil heater, and trays were sent off daily to the baker to be cooked in the bread oven. This dish was sent to the baker.

The grandest Arab meal is a whole stuffed baby lamb. A succulent leg accompanied by the traditional stuffing called hashwa is a representative of that ideal. The meat is cooked gently, for a long time, to such melting tenderness that you can pull morsels off with your fingers.

A central part of every grand Arab feast is lamb—shoulder or leg—cooked à la cuillère (to such tenderness that you can eat it “with a spoon”), accompanied by rice with ground meat and nuts. This recipe comes from the caterer Nazira Bitar, who is the queen of wedding cakes all over the Arab world. She prepared a banquet in Stockholm that was hosted by the King of Jordan for King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia.

Kibbeh forms a major part of the national dishes of Lebanon. There are countless versions, from a raw meat paste to little, oval shells stuffed with a ground meat filling and deep-fried or cooked in yogurt or bitter orange juice, as well as vegetarian kibbeh with pumpkin or potato, and one with fish—each version having a number of regional variations. One thing they all have in common is bulgur (burghul in Lebanon). Since most are labor-intensive and require skill and application, they are not the kind of thing you undertake if you are not part of the culture. So I was very happy to discover a traditional kibbeh that was truly delightful and relatively easy, with only one layer of kibbeh and a flavorsome onion and pine nut topping. I found it in a little restaurant in Beirut called Kibbet Zaman (Yesterday’s Kibbeh). It can be served hot or cold (I prefer it hot) as a main dish or cut up small as a mezze. It is really worth doing—I guarantee you will surprise your guests. Accompany it with baba ghanouj (page 248), hummus (page 249), and a salad

Meats grilled on skewers over the dying embers of a fire are a symbol of Turkish cuisine. They are said to be a legacy of nomadic times, perfected in the conquering era of the Ottomans, when soldiers camping out in tents skewered their meats on swords and cooked them on the campfire. Years ago, I went on a tour of kebab houses in Istanbul. It was a grand eating marathon. At the fifth establishment they opened the refrigeration room and showed me all the prize cuts, which were later presented to me straight from the fire on a huge platter. As well as lamb kebabs and ground meat kebabs on skewers, there were small lamb chops, kidneys, slices of calf ’s liver, beef steaks, sucuk (spicy beef sausages), and pieces of chicken. It was a gourmand’s dream, but for me at the time, afraid to give offence by not eating everything, it was a nightmare. Serve the kebabs with pita bread or with other bread from a Middle Eastern store, such as Turkish flat bread like an Italian focaccia or a sesame bread, and with one or more of the garnishes below.

The special feature of this dish is the exquisite mix of caramelized onions, honey, and raisins called tfaya, which is served as a topping to the long-cooked, deliciously tender meat.

The foods from North Africa and the Middle East truly have some of the deepest flavors I’ve ever tasted. Don’t be daunted by the length of the recipe: This dish is not at all difficult to throw down, and the results are well worth the long shopping list. The Harissa sauce can be made a day ahead and the caponata is also good by itself or as a side dish.

For me, commercially produced curry power tastes just that: commercial. You would never find prepared curry powder in an Indian restaurant, and because the spices are combined fresh, the flavors are robust and explosive. If you like a light curry flavor, use half the spice mix. If you like a spicy curry—use it all. I won’t be mad at ya. Serve the lamb curry with Perfect Steamed Jasmine Rice (page 240) or basmati rice. This is Bombay the right way.

Leg of lamb is a traditional Easter and Passover dish, but it makes a wonderful company meal any time.

Boneless leg of lamb is versatile and easy to prepare. One of my favorite and easiest rubs for lamb combines the flavors of garlic and rosemary.

Slowly braised meats are a specialty of cooks in the high country of Abruzzo. With a fire always burning in the hearth or on a stove, it makes sense to keep a pot stewing. And from the ubiquitous flocks of sheep there’s always some mutton or lamb that will benefit from long cooking. Here’s a typically tasty example: a leg of lamb, bone removed, laid open in a flat slab (what we call “butterflied”), then slathered with a savory bread filling, rolled and tied up, and cooked for hours in a savory tomato sauce. This is a great dish for a festive occasion, because a big leg will easily serve eight or more. To savor it Italian-style, I encourage you to present this in two courses, using the sauce to dress maccheroni alla chitarra or other pasta for a primo (first course), and serving the sliced lamb leg as the main course. Mashed potatoes and braised broccoli or chicory would be excellent accompaniments to the meat. Keep the recipe procedure in mind when purchasing boneless leg of lamb. You want a leg that’s been butterflied but preferably left untied. However, do ask the butcher for a length of the netting, or meat stocking, that slips over a rolled leg to hold it in shape; this will come in handy once the meat is stuffed and ready to cook. If the butcher is accommodating, specify that you want the leg butterflied to lie flat with an even thickness, so you can coat the meat generously with the bread seasoning and roll it up neatly. Should you end up with meat that is too thick in places, you can flatten it yourself with a meat mallet, or by butterflying, that is, sliding a knife into the thick muscle and opening it up.

He was the chairman of the Board, new Jersey's favorite son (other than me), Nancy's dad, and perhaps the greatest interpreter of the American popular songbook ever to have lived. He was a heartthrob (although my mother always said he was so skinny he had to leave the hangers in his jackets to have shoulders) and he was a serious actor—anyone who saw him in The Man with the Golden Arm can attest. He took home the Oscar for From Here to Eternity in 1954 and gave memorable performances in the musicals On the Town and Guys and Dolls. But it is Sinatra's music that endures. if you don't love his albums Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely, Come Fly with Me, September of My Years, and the samba record Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlo Jobim, you just don't get it. In fact, if you don't like those records, you don't deserve his lamb recipe.

Let the yogurt work its marinade magic overnight in this stunning main course. Look for a small butterflied boneless leg of lamb at your supermarket, or ask your butcher to butterfly one for you.

Spiedini ("skewers" in Italian) refers to this dish at Frasca Food and Wine involving meat, seafood, or vegetables roasted or grilled over a fire. Instead of lamb shoulder, you could buy about 21/2 pounds boneless leg of lamb to trim and cube for the spiedini.