Lamb Shawarma and Tahini Sauce

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American Lamb is one of the most versatile meats available in your local grocery store. It imparts a wonderful taste to your dishes and makes for some incredible Latin, Middle Easter, Asian and Mediterranean foods. From gyros, kabobs, bulgogi, or stew- all can use American Lamb to truly bring out the proper international flavor while still buying local. Nearly 82,000 family owned sheep operations are in existence in the United States giving us consumers a steady rate of local family owned meats.

Today we will be making a wonderful traditional Mediterranean dish, Shawarma. Shawarma is a marinated lamb dish which is put over rice, inside of pita or simply by itself. This dish is incredibly easy to prepare and a delicious way to bring some international flare to your dinner room table without having to break the bank on odd spices and ingredients that will only be used once. So be sure to check it out and enjoy. Also I threw together a tahini sauce which is great when poured over the Shawarma, but is not necessary to make this meal. If you do make the tahini sauce, it is quick and easy, but you might want to make quite a bit.  It can be poured over or dipped into by everything, which it will be once you taste it.

Lamb Shawarma

1/2 cup plain yogurt (Greek or regular yogurt can be used)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 teaspoon ground mace

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

5 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips

Directions

Place all your ingredients EXCEPT the lamb into a bowl big enough to hold both the lamb and the ingredients. Mix well. Give it a taste, there should be a slight tang to the flavor feel free to add more salt or pepper to your liking just keep in mind you can always add more but you cannot take some out so add a little bit at a time. Put the lamb in the bowl and coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least an overnight (12 hours), the longer the better.

Take out lamb strips and let stand until brought to room temperature. Heat a large pan over high heat. Cook the lamb strips in a single layer in batches until the fat cooks up and the meats is brown and not pink in the middle. No matter how you like your meat cooked this is the level of done-ness you want for this particular dish. These cook up fast so don’t walk away from the pan.

TAHINI SAUCE

½ garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons tahini

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

2 – 4 tablespoons water

Directions

Combine all ingredients except parsley in a small bowl and mix well. Start with the smaller amount of water and add more to achieve the desired consistency (I like a pourable sauce). Add parsley just before serving and mix well.

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