This holiday season I received the most amazing cookbook. This recipe of lamb and pistachio patties comes from this great gift.
Who is this wonderful gift giver?
Most of you don’t know it but I have a “behind-the-scenes” guy. A guy who makes sure my punctuation and sentence structure doesn’t read like a preschooler. A guy who takes me to task if I am late for my writing deadlines (this month is a great example although he has been kind to give me some slack) and all those glorious pictures every week that you get to feast your eyes on…yep!…all him. His name is Darin Asselin and he rocks at being amazing web support and a behind-the-scenes guy for me. He also is a great gift giver and you get to experience how good he actually is with this months recipe.
Why is this book so wonderful?
Ottolenghi Simple is a cookbook of decadence and sophistication written in a way that allows this humble “occasional-kitchen-user” to create magnificent creations that could be passed off as a “chef”. The descriptions are so enticing that my copy is bookmarked all over the place. There are very few recipes that I won’t try. Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli-English chef, food writer and restaurant owner. He has plenty of vegetarian recipes up his sleeve and I’d encourage you to check out his recipes just to increase your stash of favorite vegetable dishes.
Benefits of Lamb
This month I chose a lamb recipe mainly because I love it. I have been a vegetarian at times but I am not one now although I do eat a mostly plant-based diet. The benefits of lamb are many. Make sure to get organic or grass-fed for the least amount of toxins and the most nutritional value.
It is full of minerals that are needed to keep your muscles healthy and avoid cramping. Minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, selenium, potassium, copper, and magnesium.
Lamb is a good source of B-vitamins that can help with nerve conduction, energy, focus, and hormonal balance.
If you are on a ketogenic diet, lamb provides plenty of fat to get you to your macro goals. It is also full of protein with almost 28 grams in 4 ounces.
When you try this fabulous recipe, let me know your thoughts.
Happy Spring!
Dr. Stacey
Lamb and Pistachio Patties with sumac yogurt sauce
by Stacey Francis, DC from the book Ottolenghi Simple
Patties
½ cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
1 ¼ cup arugula, roughly chopped
1 onion, quartered and chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 lb 2 oz lamb, preferably organic grass fed
3 tbsp olive oil
¾ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Sumac Yogurt Sauce
1 cup Greek-style yogurt
1 tbsp sumac
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Combine all ingredients for sumac yogurt sauce and keep in the fridge until needed.
To make the patties, process garlic and onions until they form a paste and add that to a bowl with the pistachios, arugula, lamb, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sea salt and pepper. Mix well to combine. Form into 20 patties with wet hands. Cook patties in 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan over medium heat. Cook for 3 ½ minutes each side or until cooked through.
Serve with sumac yogurt sauce.
Serves: 4.