December 14, 2012 Lamb Shish Kebob with Bulgur Pilaf and Tzatziki Sauce and Salad and Chocolate Cake

December 14, 2012 Lamb Shish Kebob with Bulgur Pilaf and Tzatziki Sauce and Salad and Chocolate Cake

I talked to Susan Palmer this morning about the planned meal for tonight and asked her if she would rather eat Oaxacan Green Mole with pork or lamb shish kebobs.  She chose shish kebobs. 

So at around 5:30 p.m. when I got home from a client’s office and the bank, I searched the internet for a recipe and found a Food Network recipe for Gyro meat and Tzatziki Sauce and started cooking.  I first made the Tzatziki Sauce with 2/3 of a hot house cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped, 16 ounces of plain Pace drained Greek yogurt, 4 cloves of garlic pressed, 1 Tbs. olive oil, 2 tbs. of red wine vinegar (Praeger Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley), 5 or 6 dried mint leaves from our garden.

I asked Willy to make guacamole and to chop some onion which he did.  He left about a cup of red onion after he made the guacamole, so I started the bulgur by placing about ¼ cup of onion and two Tbs. of olive oil in a large enameled casserole and sautéed the onions for a few minutes and then added about 1 cup of bulgur and sautéed that for a few minutes and then added a handful of black raisins and about two ounces of sliced almonds.  While I was sautéing the bulgur mixture, at around 6:10 Suzette appeared from her nap and asked what she could do.  Since I had told Susan to come at 6:30 p.m., I was way behind the curve on the shish kebobs so I showed Suzette the recipe, handed her the pound of lamb and a pound of ground pork, I had thawed and asked her to make the shish Kebobs.  She said Susan had called and said they would not arrive until 6:45, so I felt a little better.  I heated water in the tea kettle and added about two cups of boiling water to the hot bulgur and after it steamed and sizzled and I stirred the bottom of the casserole to loosen any stuck ingredients from the bottom, I covered the pot and reduced the temperature and put the timer on for 30 minutes.

Suzette immediately saw something I had missed because I had not read the entire recipe which is that the gyro recipe called for cooking the gyros like a meatloaf in a water bath for 75 minutes.  Since that was out of the question with about 15 minutes until the Palmers were scheduled to arrive, I said we would make shish kebobs by sautéing the meat in oil, which is what I had wanted to do anyway.

Suzette put the ingredients for the shish kebobs into the Cuisinart.  They were:

1 medium onion, finely chopped, thanks to Willy

1 lb. of ground lamb

1 lb. of ground pork

1 Tbs. of dried ground Marjoram

1 Tbs. of dried ground rosemary (we substituted fresh from the garden)

2 tsp. Kosher salt (she used French Sea Salt)

½ tsp. of black pepper (we deleted this because I do not eat black pepper)

We also put some shish kebob seasoning powder I had in instead of the salt.

Suzette processed all of these ingredients in the Cusinart until they turned into a paste.

I chopped three stalks of fresh parsley from the garden finely and added that to the meat and then rolled out about 10 ¾ inch wide rolls of meat and Suzette sautéed them in olive oil and then put them in the oven to stay warm. 

Thank God the Palmers were fashionably late, arriving around 7:00 p.m. with green salad makings and marinated green beans and a beautiful chocolate cake from Whole Foods, because I was still rolling shish kebobs and Suzette was still frying them.  

We served the guacamole with the Mexican style corn chips that Susan loves (Michael’s from Pro’s Market) and dry roasted almonds (Sprouts $3.99/lb.) as appetizers.

Since I had bought nice Roma tomatoes on Thursday at Pro’s Market, after I finished rolling shish kebobs, while Susan was assembling her salad I asked her if she wanted any tomatoes and she said yes, so I gave her two.  I also like tomato wedges with the shish kebobs and Tzatziki sauce, so I cut two Romas into slices lengthwise by quartering and then slicing the quarters in half.

I then fetched a bottle of 2008 Ménage À Trois red wine (a meritage of merlot, cabernet and zinfandel made by Folie À Deux Winery in St. Helena, Napa Valley, California).  After pouring each person a glass of wine and nibbling a few more appetizers, we were ready to eat.

The larger shish kebobs that were still soft in the middle were best.  Their slightly lamblike flavor with the bulgur and Tzatziki was wonderful; as were the tomato slices dipped in Tzatziki and slices of shish kebob.  The green beans and salad were a refreshing complement to the heavy meat and bulgur part of the meal.      

After dinner, Susan served the yellow cake with a delicious dark chocolate icing while I made decaffeinated coffee.  As it turned out I made the coffee stronger than normal, so it seemed to be like a Turkish roast and consistency, a very nice finish for the meal and as a complement to the dark chocolate icing.

Bon Appètit