Lamb dishes

Jett
Smith

MEN AND women have
eaten lamb for thousands
and thousands of years. ‘

Sheep bones have been found in
the caves Peking man inhabited
half a million years ago, although
domestication of the sheep proba-
biy did not begin uniil about
12,000 years ago.

The first hard evidence of.
sheep-raising dates from 8920 BC
in Iraq and Romania, and sheep
appear to have been raised in
prehistoric China on the Loess
plateau, a region where the an-
cient winds have deposited rich
soils.

italy and Greece still have their
own ancient traditions of eating
larab. Lamb was raised in Greece
from_ prehistoric times and re-
mains the favorite meat of its
people.

‘Lamb in the Roman kitchen has
always been impostant. To this
day the Romans claim they have
the best pastureland in italy, and
_ thus the best lamb. J shall not
| argue,

Every part’ of the animal is
celebrated in the Eternal City, and
the innards seem to have. an
‘especially high place in the celc-
bration.

The Chinese, 1 suspect, were the
first to coupic lamb with its best
seasoning, garlic. —

I wish North Americans would
stop overcooking lamb so that it
could be enjoyed more in our
culture. We still seem to be suf-
fering from the argument common
in the Old West. It was the cat-
tleman against the sheephercer.

Lamb is, I believe, the finest of
: the red meats.

“WONGOLIAN LAMB
(Serves 6 as partof .
_ aChinese meal)

Great grills are used for this
dish in famous Mongolian restau-
rants in China. You may want to
use a tabletop grill of some sort
and cook this at the table in front

. of your guests.
_- think the dish is just fine
straight from the kitchen wok. it
is rich!
3 pound lean, boneless lamb
sneulder, sliced thin in 1-inch-
wide sidos

MARINADE
2 tablespoons oyster suuce
3 green oniows, chopped

THE FRUGAL GOURMET

1 tablespoon chili sauce
Freshly ground tlack pepper to
taste (I tike lots)
FOR CHOWING (STIR-
FRYING) .
2 tablespoons peanut oil
¥% teaspoon salt
3 claves gariic, diced fine
GARNISH
2 cups iceberg letiuce, skredded as
for tacos
3 green onions, chopped
t tablespoon sesame oil
I often freeze the lamb just a
bit so i can slice it very thin. Mix
the marinade and soak the meat in
same for 30 minutes.

Heat a wok and add the oil, salt ,

and garlic. Chow just until the
garlic begins to change color, then
add half of the marinated meat.
Chow. over very high heat until
done to your taste.

Remove to a warm plate and
chow the second half. Serve over
the lettuce and add the onicn and
sesame oil garnish.

ROAST LAMB, GREEK STYLE
(Serves 4-6)

Nothing can equal the scent of
a jamb roasting in the back streets
of a Greek village. i have added a
bit of olive oil to keep this roast
moist, but you would not have to
do this with a whole iamb.

15-6 pound leg of lamb

VY cup ollie: oi

3 cloves garlic, crashed

i teaspoon whole oregano, crush-
ed by hand .

Salt snd freshly ground olack
pepper to taste

For rare lamb: Allow the lamb
to come to room temperature.
Heat your oven to 400°F.

Mix the oil, garlic and oregano
together and rub the leg complete-
ly. Season with salt and pepper
and place op baking rack in a
pan. Insert a meat thermometer in
the thickest part of the leg, being
careful not to touch the bone.

Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes so
the meat can brown. Turn the
oven down to 325°F and bake for
an additional! 40 to 50 minutes, or
unti! the thermometer registers at
140°F,

Remove the meat from the oven
and allow it to sit a talf hour be-
fore sticing. It wil] continue to
cook during this time.

For medium lamb: Follow the
ahove instructions but cook a bit
longer so that the thermometer
registers at 145° to I50°F.

Slice thin and serve with some
of the pan juices.

SOUVLAKI
(Makes & sandwiches)

This is an old. Athenian dish
that will make you wonder about
who invented the first takeout
food. These lamb-laden skewers
are for sale all over the major
Greek cities, and the flavor is
made even more exciting by the
grilled bread with the yogurt
dripping down the sides.

2 pounds lean lamb, cut into 1-
inch square cubes

MARINADE
Y% cup olive oi}

1 cup red wire

I teaspeon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to
taste

1 tesspoon oregano

1 tesspoon whole dried mint,
crushed by. hand

3 cloves garlic, crashed

8 loeves pita bread with obive oil,
grilled

GARNISHES
Purple anions, sliced paper thin
Tomsives, ripe aad sliced thin
Piain yogurt

Marinate cubes of meat in a
large bowl. Mix tvo or three times
during a two-hour period,

Place on wooden skewers and
broil, turning once, until tender
but still a bit pink on the inside.

Serve in a griiled pita loaf with
anions, tomatoes and yogurt on
top.

Note: This dish is also great
with pork.

SPICY CAJUN beef stir-fry has just enough heat to wake up

winter-weary palates.

Canned vegetable recipes
save time in the kitchen

LET CONVENIENCE be your
guide .to satisfying and
delicious suppers. Open the
cupboards, check the
refrigerator and chances are the
ingredients for fast, nutritious
meals are all there.

Convenient and economical,
canned vegetables answer the
quest for saving time and steps
in the kitchen. They're ready to
go without cleaning, chopping,
or cooking. In addition to their
nutritive value, canned
vegetables are a good source of
dietary fibre.

In celebration of Canned
Vegetable Month in January,
here is a quick and delicious

supper idea from the Canned’

Food Council. What _ better.
time to savor favorite summer
vegetables, tastefully preserved
for use all year fong. :

For a free recipe booklet
write to; The Canned Food
Council, 77 Bloor St. West,
Suite 1903, Toronto, Ont. MSS
1M2,

SPICY CAJUN BEEF STIR-
FRY

(Serves 4)

2 thsp (36 mL) vegetable oil,
divided
1 ib (500 g) lean beef steak
(ftank, sirioin) cut inte thin
strips .

t medium onion,
lengthwise aad sliced
1 cup (250 mL) chopped green
and red peppers .
1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme leaves
1 tsp (5 mL) dried marjoram |
leaves
Y% tsp (2 mL) crushed red pep-
per (may be increased to taste)
1 12-0z. (341 mL) can whole
kernel corn, drained -
Ys cup (75 mL) beef broth or.
water
2 thsp (5 mL) red wine vinegar
1 tsp (5 mL) cornstarch -
4 cups (1 L) shredded cabbage
or lettuce

In large frying pan, heat !°
tbsp (15 mL) oil over medi- —
um-high heat. Saute beef strips
until browned, about 3

halved

’ minutes. Remove from pan and

wipe out pan.

Heat remaining oi! in pas
over medium heat. Saute
onion, peppers, thyme, mar-
joram and crushed red pepper
about 5S minutes or until,
tender. Combine beef broth,
vinegar and cornstarch. Stir in-
to pan with beef and corn.
Cook until lightly thickened.

Serve over cabbage or -let-
tuce. .
Preparation Time: 12 zainutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Milk: variations on a nearly perfect food

inquisitive
Cook

SUE
WILSON

ANNE |
GARDINER

MILK HAS been called
mature’s nearly perfect
food.

Nowadays, we’re even building
variety into perfection. By altering
the proportion of milk solids
suspended in water, modern pro-
cessing has given us condensed,
skim, evaporated and powdered
milk.

The ‘‘sofids’’ in milk are pro-
teins, sugar (lactose), minerals,
vitamins, trace nutrients and fat.
Though we can’t see or feel them,
they give milk body and nutri-
tional value.

The fat, sometimes called but-
terfat, comes in farge globules
which aren’t as dense as milk
itself. If left to stand, fat rises
leisurely to the top of fresh miik
to form a thick layer of cream.

Today, however, it’s likely that

cream is separated from milk by
passing it through the spinning
disks of centrifugal separators.
It's then, recombined with skim
milk according to the desired fat
content. Low-fat milk varies from
less than 0.5% fat (skim milk) to
1% to 2% fat. Whole milk con-
tains roughly 4% fat; coffee
cream or ‘‘half-and-half,”’ at
feast 18%. The term half-and-
half means this milk is half way
between milk and cream in butter-
fat content.

Whipping cream, the richest of
all, is 39% to 36% butterfat.
When beaten with air the fat
enables it to hold its shape as a
soft billow of solids.

Once skim milk is mixed with
the desired amount: of fat,
homogenization prevents fat from
scparating from the liquid. Under
high pressure, milk is forced

through tiny holes onto a hard
surface. This divides fat globules
into tiny Groplets which remain
dispersed throughout the miik
simply because they’re too small
to rise to the surface on their
own. And they’re too widely
dispersed to aggregate into larger
particles.

You'll notice that milk with a
high fat content is thicker and
more opaque than skim miik.
When most of the fat is removed
from milk, fight passes through
easily, making it slrost translu-
cent.

Buttermilk, traditionally. the
whey remaining after milk has
been churned into butter, is now
most often made by adding special
strains of bacteria to low-fat
milk. The bacteria converts milk
sugar into lactic acid, which pro-
duces the smooth, tart, cultured

product well known for its role in
leavening biscuits and pancakes.
Because of its acidity, buttermilk
is also popular as a tangy base for
soups, salad dressings, and
marinades.

Evaporated and condensed milk
contain roughly double the milk
solids of regular milk, since half
to 60% of their water is removed
during the processing. The high
temperature of canning affects the
milk sugar, producing a cream:
color and slightly caramel flavo-
in evaporated milk. Condensx'
milk is heavily sweetened for use
in desserts. Its high sugar content
also prevents spoilage.

Powdered miik results when all
but 4% or 5% of the moisture is
removed. Milk solids are collected
and instantized into tiny clumps
which dissolve easily when mixed
with water,