over the weekend, i engaged in deadly (not really) food battle against nick! if anyone reading this blog doesn’t know who nick is, you need to get to know him. nick runs an amazing blog called macheesmo, where among many other things, he allows other bloggers to challenge him to a cook-off. i was psyched to find out that he accepted my challenge and the ingredients were chosen: lamb and leeks. read my post, then find out what nick made, and then vote for your favorite at the end of this post.
my head was swimming with possibilities, so i bought a few different cuts of lamb – shoulder and butterflied leg. i ended up combining them to make a great ground lamb mixture in the food processor. but what would i do with all this ground lamb?
dish 1: lamb sliders with caramelized leek jam. i decided on a mediterranean flavored slider, so i mixed the lamb with feta cheese, mint and garlic.
i quickly shaped the patties and set them in the fridge to firm up while i tackled the next dish.
here’s a nice picture of leeks to break up the photos of raw lamb. next up…
dish 2: lamb in a slanket with leek yogurt sauce. once i had the sliders going, i got inspired to make more lamb-ified bar food. lamb in a slanket are basically pigs in a blanket, except made of lamb, and indian-spiced. i mixed together ground corriander, curry powder, ginger, cinnamon, cliantro and a few other spices and shaped the lamb into mini-hot-dog shapes.
these are about to get wrapped in pillsbury crescent roll dough.
now the leeks! the first topping to make was the leek jam, which is leeks cooked down with butter and cream until it’s an incredibly thick and rich sauce.
the next sauce was a leek yogurt sauce for the lamb in a slanket. i was looking for something refreshing and cool to match up with the spices. leeks have a pretty mild flavor, but it still came through in the sauce.
here’s the assembled meal – one thing i didn’t get pictures of was the making of the crispy fried leeks. i dipped strips of leek in tempura batter and quickly fried them until crispy. the whole thing came together nicely, and everything was delicious.
the bonus to this food battle was actually getting to MEET nick face to face so we could try each other’s dishes. he and betsy were kind enough to host the girl and me over so we could feast and swap stories (oh the crazy lives food bloggers live). it was awesome to hang out and i can tell you that nick is just as generous, funny and talented as it appears on his blog.
finally, here’s a sneak peek at what nick made (it was great!).
