You like this one?
Or this one?
There’s a whole lot of picture-taking fun going on at my house these days. What with my new camera and all. We had friends over for dinner and I set the plate on the corner of our island with the evening sunshine glowing through the window. Perfect shot (the second one above). I still have to work on the focus – the front edge of the bread was not where I wanted the focus to be. I’ll get it eventually.
This recipe is so different. I had this at a charity cooking class a few weeks ago, but wasn’t able to get a photo of it because it was dark (we were outdoors) by the time they served it. But it was SO good. The dish is not all that hard to do – you marinate the meat overnight (olive oil, red wine, oodles of garlic, lots of lemon zest and juice, some fresh oregano and rosemary sprigs), buy some raw pizza dough (Trader Joe’s sells it that way if you don’t want to make your own), and make the cheese slather (Feta, mayo, yogurt, sour cream and a bunch of garlic).
Now is where the story of this dish gets funny – do as I SAY, not as I DID. I forgot to re-read the recipe. Forgot to re-read the part that says you bake the lamb in the oven for 12 hours (yes, really, 12 hours) at 200. Covered in olive oil. So as it approached dinnertime, our friends had arrived, and I’ve removed the meat from the marinade and I’m thinking we’re grilling the meat. Then I glanced at the recipe. Oops. Wrong! Oh well, we’ll just have to grill it anyway. It took about 20 minutes to grill the meat to 125 internal temp and while it was allowed to rest on the cutting board, my DH put the pizza dough ovals on the grill. I’d rolled and pressed them out into about 8-inch long pieces, using my rolling pin. The ovals were spread with some olive oil on both sides, then onto the hot grill they went. Took about 2 minutes to be softly grilled, then they’re turned over and you spread on the Feta cheese slather on top. Cook another minute just so the cheese slather is heated through and you’re done. Remove to a piping hot plate. Meanwhile, slice thin pieces of the lamb leg and pile it onto the flatbread, garnish with some red chile flakes if you’d like (I used Italian parsley instead), maybe some salt and pepper, and it’s ready to serve.
So that’s what I did the other night. But, a few days later, with the leftovers at hand, I decided to try to do the long baking of the meat, per the recipe. Since the meat was already cooked and pink in the middle, I figured half as much baking would do it. What was left fit into a Teflon-coated bread pan, and it was covered with olive oil as directed. So I ended up baking it at 200 for 6 hours. You pour off the olive oil after baking. The meat was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Not a bit of the oil had really penetrated the meat, but it insulated the meat from drying out during the long time in the oven, I suppose. I sliced the meat into thin pieces while Dave grilled some more of the pizza/flatbread on the barbecue. We were a bit more careful with how thick the dough was (a little thicker this time and obviously smaller – about 4 x 8 inches), added more of the Feta cheese slather than we did the first time, then sprinkled the meat all over it.
This time, though, I made a bit of a detour – I mixed up a small arugula salad (just an oil and vinegar dressing on it) and arranged it on top, sprinkled on some fresh diced tomatoes and a bit of fresh basil. And served it. Oh my goodness yes, it was delish. Definitely better than the first round. Since the marinade was still okay I stuck it in the freezer and can probably re-use it a second time. It was never left out at room temp, so it should be safe to do that. I probably could have saved the oil from the baking too (it took more than I’d thought) if I filtered it, but I tossed that out. The hardest thing about this dish was rolling out the pizza dough. Darned, but it can be resilient, not wanting to spread out. I certainly haven’t perfected tossing dough in the air.
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Spicy Greek Confit Leg of Lamb with Feta Cheese Slather on a Pizza (Flatbread)
Recipe: Alan Greeley, chef/owner of the Golden Truffle, Costa Mesa, CA
Servings: 10
LAMB:
5 pounds boneless leg of lamb — flattened
750 milliliters red wine — (not pinot noir)
8 whole shallots — peeled
25 cloves garlic — minced
8 sprigs rosemary
8 sprigs oregano
3 whole jalapeno peppers — sliced
5 whole lemons — both juice AND zest
1 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups olive oil
FETA CHEESE SLATHER:
1 cup olive oil
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup sour cream
2 cups feta cheese — crumbled
2 tablespoons garlic — minced (must use fresh cloves)
4 whole lemons — juice only
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper — to taste
PIZZA:
2 pounds raw pizza dough — store bought or freshly made
1/4 cup fresh oregano
1 teaspoon dried red chile flakes — optional
TOPPING: (not in the original recipe)
8 cups arugula
2 medium tomatoes — cored, seeded, chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil — sliced finely
Tossed with a simple oil and vinegar dressing
LAMB: 1. Using the palm of your hand, smash the leg of lamb so the marinade is able to soak in. In a mixing bowl combine the wine, garlic, rosemary, oregano, jalapenos, lemon zest and juice, soy sauce, olive oil and black pepper. Mix well. Place the lamb in an ovenproof casserole dish, add marinade and give it a good massage. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. Next day, remove lamb and discard the marinade. Return lamb and shallots to casserole dish and cover with melted lard or olive oil (the chef said the lard will make the dish taste better – uh, yea). Make sure the fat or oil is covering the lamb by at least 1 inch.
3. Cover casserole dish with 3 or 4 layers of plastic wrap, sealing tightly, then cover with heavy-duty aluminum foil. It is VERY important to seal it well. Place in a 200 degree oven and cook overnight (12 hours).
4. Remove from oven. Allow to sit for 1 hour, then remove lamb from the fat and drip dry. Lamb can be eaten as is or shredded for the pizza. Once shredded, adjust seasoning with salt, pepper or lemon. If making pizza, keep warm.
FETA CHEESE SLATHER: 1. Place all ingredients in food processor and mix well. Chill. Can be made 24 hours ahead.
PIZZA: 1. Roll out pizza dough to a thin shape. At the event I went to, the pizza was in elongated ovals (about 4 inches by 10 inches). Brush both sides of pizza with olive oil. Brush a medium-hot outdoor grill with oil, then place pizza directly on the grill. Brush top side with more oil, if needed. Turn pizza over and cook briefly. If the pizza is thin, it doesn’t take long to cook through, so watch that it doesn’t turn into dry crackers. Turn pizza back to first side and add the feta cheese slather over the entire flatbread. Remove to a serving platter, add the hot lamb, then decorate with fresh oregano leaves and red chile flakes, if desired. Cut into pieces and serve. Or serve with arugula salad, chopped tomatoes and fresh basil on top.
Per Serving (it includes the marinade, so these figures are way off): 1361 Calories; 116g Fat (77.4% calories from fat); 51g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 161mg Cholesterol; 3243mg Sodium.
Kathleen Heckathorn
said on May 29th, 2009:
Carolyn,
Your blog continues to delight daily. I have learned so much from you. Any recipe that has the word “slather” in it has to be fabulous!
Thank you, my friend. I think slather is kind of a new culinary word – I wonder if it was even a WORD 20 years ago. But it certainly describes this use perfectly. . . carolyn
coffeepot
said on May 29th, 2009:
That looks wonderful! Your camera is taking beautiful pics.
Thank you! . . . carolyn