My journey of cooking, gardening, preserving and more
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s summertime, which makes me a happy woman! Last year I featured a celebration of summer garden tomatoes by featuring some recipes made with fresh garden tomatoes. My celebration included a couple of chilled gazpacho recipes, including my Garden Heirloom …
Check out these little garden gems! These little red eggplant are Melanzane Rosso Di Rotonda eggplant from Baker’s Creek Heirloom Seeds and they are just as delicious as they are beautiful. I started my plants inside in late winter so I had a good headstart on …
I’ve shared numerous lamb recipes with you over the last few years, including my most popular lamb recipe on Pinterest, my Lemon Oregano Lamb Shoulder Chops Recipe. My lamb shoulder chop recipe is quick, easy, and delicious. If that recipe doesn’t turn you onto lamb, I’m hoping this one will.
Because it’s such a small batch, I use my mini food processor to make the fresh pesto for this. I chop the garlic and walnuts in the processor during prep but I wait until the final moments before serving to actually add the basil, olive oil, and lemon. This assures me that the pesto will be bright green and beautiful before serving the lamb sliders. The squeeze of lemon not only helps guarantee me a bright green pesto but also adds a little bit of acid to highlight the flavor of the lamb.
This recipe makes about 7-8 lamb sliders, depending on the size of your burgers. For authenticity, the batch that I made for these photos made 7 burgers. Also, please note there are different sizes of “slider” buns, meaning I’ve found some that are teeny-tiny and some that are just a 1/2 size regular bun…these are not teeny tiny, but 1/2 size regular bun.
Also, note that lamb is very lean and cooks faster than beef burgers, so depending on your grill and heat, these may take a little longer or shorter cooking time than posted.
These are the best, easiest, juiciest grilled lamb burger sliders and are a huge hit on my summertime menu. But you don’t have to grill them; you can certainly make them in a big skillet on the stovetop for about 4-5 minutes per side. A heavy cast iron pan works best and helps you get a nice sear.
Options – of course, if you really just don’t like lamb, you can certainly make these ground beef or ground turkey sliders. And you can make these as full-size burgers but I think the sliders are fun and easier to eat. For something with a little more of a kick, swap out the basil for arugula and even toss in a teaspoon or so of red pepper flakes. I’ve also made these with chimichurri sauce instead of pesto; you can never go wrong where chimichurri is involved! As I mention in the ingredients list, goat cheese substitutes perfectly for feta.
Never be afraid to play with your food. Enjoy!
This soup is an ode to summer gardens everywhere, much like my Golden Heirloom Gazpacho recipe and my Summer Garden Gazpacho recipe. This chilled cucumber soup celebrates the summer garden, full of fresh cucumbers, herbs, and heirloom tomatoes. My chilled cucumber soup is made with …
I always love when I can share a recipe that includes something from my garden and this is an easy pasta dish that can be customized in many ways, which I’ll share with you later. This recipe involves green radicchio, which is a bitter green. …
Many people confuse clarified butter with ghee, though they do have one thing in common: the milk solids are removed from both. The difference between clarified butter and ghee is that ghee is taken one step further in the cooking process, toasting the fat solids to a nutty, flavorful richness.
The beauty of both is that, because the milk solids have been removed, they have a high smoke point which means you can cook with them at high heat, unlike regular butter. Removing the milk solids also make ghee an alternative to butter for anyone with a sensitivity to dairy products.
I don’t cook with ghee a lot because it is a saturated fat, just like plain butter. There are a lot of arguments out there surrounding good fats vs. bad fats and though I’ll always recommend real butter over all those shady substitutes, I think all saturated fats should be consumed with mindfulness and in moderation.
You’ll also see ghee touted as quite the miracle food but to this I personally attribute to the fact that it’s still a real, whole food and not one packed full of artificial ingredients. I don’t believe it’s going to solve all your health problems but I do believe, when given the option, you should eat real food.
Making ghee is not overly difficult to make nor is it time-consuming but it does require 2 things:
I’m also going to state first and foremost that my “low” heat and “medium” heat can vary widely from yours. This is where your attention – and sense of smell – is required. The times I give here are approximate so pay close attention to what your ghee is doing and what it smells like. You don’t want it to burn but you do want it to toast to a caramelly-goodness.
You can certainly make this with 2 lbs. or more of butter but if you’ve never made ghee before, I recommend starting with 1 lb. until you have the hang of it.
You can also play around with salted butter or making a batch half unsalted and half salted but again, I recommend starting with unsalted.
Here’s what ghee looks like before the refrigeration process:
And this is what it looks like 24 hours after being refrigerated:
Ghee is really wonderful used in small quantities. As I said earlier, it’s especially delicious on roasted veggies and meats. You can use it in baking, poaching, and stir-frying – the flavor is a concentrated nutty one that doesn’t take much to highlight its flavor.
Do you make or love ghee? How do you use it? I’d love to hear about it!
Enjoy!
What do you make with leftover lamb? If you’re me, you make these delicious butter lettuce cups stuffed with chunks of leftover grilled lamb kabobs and couscous salad and then serve them with tzatziki sauce. Genius, no? It’s rare that I don’t share an actual …