Lamb in the oven with red pilaf

LAMB IN THE OVEN WITH RED PILAF

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb about 1200 g or more

2 cups rice for pilaf

5 large ripe tomatoes

Salt, pepper, oregano, savory

120 g olive oil

Instructions

Preparation and cooking the meat

Buy the meat from the day before.

Wash it well. If you find any small broken bones on the meat, take them off.

Sprinkle the meat with salt, pepper, oregano, savory and grease it all around with oil.

Place the meat in a deep baking pan and put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day put the tomatoes in the blender and make them pulp.

Take off the pan, with meat, from the refrigerator.

Spread the tomato pulp on the lamb as a thick red layer that covers it.

Pour water in the pan until it covers the 2/3 of the meat.

Put a non stick baking paper over the meat to protect it from burning.

Bake at 250 C degrees longer than 40 minutes.

The meat eventually begins to smell crisp.

Take off the non-stick baking paper.

Nail a sharp fork ladle into the meat and turn it around.

The part of the meat that was in the water goes out of it.

The upper part of the meat descends down and plunges into the water.

Cover the pan again with the non stick baking paper and put it in the oven.

Let the meat boil for another 40 minutes.

Nail a sharp fork ladle into the meat to see if it is soft.

When the meat is cooked, the fork goes easily in it.

If the meat is hard and the fork finds resistance, bake it longer.

Reduce the heat to 180 degrees.

Let the meat simmer until it becomes soft and unsticks from the bones

Take the pan from the oven.

Take the meat from the pan and put in a serving platter.

Cover the meat with aluminum foil and put over it a fluffy towel to keep it warm.

Pilaf

Measure the broth of the the pan.

For the pilaf you need 2.5 cups broth for each cup of rice.

If the broth is less than 5 cups, you must put less rice in the pan.

Put the pan in the oven again.

Put the rice in a colander and rinse it. Leave it for some time to drain.

Put the rice into the pan.

Stir it with a long spoon ladle and add salt.

Let the rice in the oven, to bake for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Taste some rice, to see if it is done and if its flavor is correct.

Put again the lamb in the pan over the rice.

Cover the food with greaseproof paper so it won’t dry.

Leave the food in the oven to remain warm.

The lamb is delicious when it's warm, so served it so.

Lamb in the oven with potatoes

LAMB IN THE OVEN WITH POTATOES

(Recipe for 6 people)

Ingredients:

1 leg of lamb (about 1.5 kg)

Salt, pepper, oregano, savory

200 g. olive oil

3 kg potatoes

2 large lemons

Instructions

Buy the leg of the lamb from the previous day, to marinate.

Wash it well.

Put on the leg salt, pepper, oregano and savory.

Rub the leg with your hand and spread the herbs evenly all over it.

Put 1TB oil in your palm and grease the leg around.

If you like the smell of garlic, nail into the meat a few cloves of garlic.

When you invite people for dinner, avoid the garlic because its smell is very strong.

Put the meat in a baking pan with dimensions 31CH41CH7 cm.

Wrap the pan around with cling film and put it in the fridge.

Let the meat overnight in the refrigerator.

The next morning pour water into the pan until it covers the 2/3 of the meat.

Put the pan in the oven on the first rack from the bottom.

Bake at 250 degrees Celsius.

Cover the whole pan with a loose sheet of non stick baking paper, to protect the meat from burning.

Leave the pan covered for an hour.

After that time, uncover the pan and turn the meat upside down.

Peel the potatoes and wash them.

Cut them into pieces that have the size of a walnut.

Put those pieces in a bowl and pour some oil over them.

Stir them well so that all pieces get greased around with oil.

Put the potatoes in the pan with the meat.

Pour in the pan the remaining oil. Add salt, pepper, oregano and savory.

Cover the pan again with the loose non stick baking paper.

Bake for one more hour.

Uncover the pan to check the meat.

Nail a fork ladle into the meat, to see if it is soft.

If the meat is soft, leave the pan uncovered and continue baking until it gets color on top.

Remove the meat from the pan and put it on a serving platter. Cover the meat with a lid to keep it warm.

Evenly spread the potatoes in the pan.

Pour into the potatoes the lemon juice and stir gently.

Bake the potatoes for half an hour.
Taste the potatoes and, if necessary, add salt.

Bake the potatoes until they are soft and tender and have absorbed almost all their fluids. 

Place the meat back in the pan and bake for 5 more minutes.

Turn of the oven. 
Keep the food in the oven covered with the baking paper.

When you are going to serve the food on the plates, take the pan off the oven..

The lamb is tastier when it is hot.

   

Salad with legumes

SALAD WITH LEGUMES

Ingredients

130 g white beans  
130 g black-eyed beans
130 g lentils

130 g garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

130 g husked wheat
3 carrots

100 g black pitted olives, chopped

80 g olive oil

1/2 bunch of dill

350 g of pickles

1TB hot mustard

 

Instructions

Overnight scour the wheat and put it in a bowl with water to soak.

Put in a pot the white beans, the black-eyed beans and the chickpeas.

Pour plenty of water in the pot to soak these legumes.

Leave them all night in the water.

The next morning rinse them thoroughly.

Pour clean water into the pot with the legumes and put it on high heat to boil.

As soon as the water boils, reduce the heat to medium.

Boil the legumes until they become tender.

Put the wheat in another pot and boil it separately.

Put the lentils in a third pot and boil them.   

Lentils boil faster than all the others.

Drain the boiled lentils with a colander and put them in a salad bowl.

Pour into the salad bowl a little oil and mix well with a spoon.

Chop the pickles put them into the lentils and mix.

Clean the dill and wash it well. Chop finely the dill into the lentils.

Peel three carrots cut them in small pieces and put them in the salad.

Drain the boiled wheat and add it in the lentils.

When the beans and the chickpeas are soft and tender, drain them well with a colander.

Put them in the salad.

Add the chopped olives in the salad. 
Add the remaining olive oil.

Last add the mustard and mix all the ingredients well.

Taste the salad and if it needs salt add some.