Signature Recipe - "Chopped Lamb Steaks"

"CHOPPED LAMB STEAKS"

     2 pounds ground, lean Ohio lamb
     1 cup quick cooking oats (not instant)
     2 cloves garlic, peeled
     1/2 teaspoon salt
     1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
     1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence dried herb mixture
     (or 1/4 teaspoon each leaf thyme and ground fennel)
     2 eggs
     1 cup dry, or more, unseasoned bread crumbs
     2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil
     additional salt and freshly ground black pepper
     1/2 cup Meier's Dry Vermouth
     tomato coulis with caramelized onions (recipe follows)
     freshly snipped herbs, such as basil, mint or parsley

   Divide the lamb in a mixing bowl, kneading in the oats. (Or grind 2 pounds of lamb cubes, trimmed of fat, in the work bowl of a food processor. When the lamb is medium grind, pulse in the oats. Place mixture in mixing bowl; wipe out the processor work bowl.)

Combine the garlic cloves, salt, freshly-ground pepper, and the herbs in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse, on-and-off until the garlic is well minced. Add the eggs and beat. Pour this mixture into the lamb-oat mixture, and mix well by hand. The mixture will be somewhat soft and gloppy.

Place the bread crumbs in a large, rectangular glass baking dish, or in a jelly-roll baking sheet. Form six oval patties of the lamb mixture, all of approximately the same size. One at a time, thoroughly coat each patty lightly in the crumb mixture. When each is done, move it to one end of the dish, pushing the crumbs back to the empty end. Repeat until all of the patties are coated. (Use more crumbs if necessary.) Refrigerate the ground lamb steaks for at least one hour before cooking.

To cook, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear the chopped lamb steaks for two minutes on each side. Then reduce heat to medium and continue to cook for 5 to 8 minutes on each side. Remove the cooked lamb to a warm platter and lightly sprinkle with additional salt and pepper as desired. Lightly cover with aluminum foil and keep warm.

Pour any grease out of the sauté pan. Over medium-high heat, deglaze the pan with Meier's Dry White Vermouth, scraping any encrusted particles to dissolve in the liquid. Reduce to 1/2 cup and stir in the tomato coulis with caramelized onion. Blend well. Adjust seasoning. To serve, divide the sauce onto 6 warm plates. Place a ground lamb steak onto the sauce on each plate. Garnish with freshly snipped herbs. Accompany with a medium-bodied, dry red wine such as Meier's Merlot.

Enjoy!

Tomato Coulis with Caramelized Onion

     4 large sweet onions, peeled and quartered
     3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
     1 side (a quarter) of a peeled green pepper, cut into strips
     a 1-inch strip, fresh orange peel
     4 cloves garlic, peeled
     1 teaspoon herbes de Provence dried herb mixture
     (or 1/4 teaspoon each leaf thyme and ground fennel)
     2 tablespoons concentrated double-strength tomato paste, from a tube
     1/2 cup Meier's Dry White Vermouth
     3 cups fresh tomatoes, peeled, juiced and seeded, and diced
     (or 1, 28-oz. can Dei Fratelli brand Ohio tomatoes, drained
     salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
     1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

   Place the onion quarters, one onion at a time, in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse, on-and-off, until the onions are coarsely chopped. Repeat until all 4 onions have been coarsely chopped. Place the chopped onions, along with 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, non-reactive, lidded cook pot set over medium heat. Cover and cook, stirring once or twice, until the onions are soft and have secreted their liquid, a mixture of the water and natural sugar which occurs in onions. This will take about 20 minutes.

Uncover the cook pot, boosting heat to high. This will first, evaporate the water from the onions, then secondly, caramelize the residual sugar. During this process, the onions should be frequently stirred, with special attention paid to sugar sticking to the inside bottom of the pot. It would quickly go from caramel to carbon, thus ruining the sauce, if not scraped loose and stirred into the onions. When the onions have begun to take on a nice, golden color, remove the pot from the heat.

Place the strips of green pepper, and of orange peel, and the garlic cloves in the work bowl of the food processor. Pulse, on-and-off until finely minced. Add the onions, along with the herb mixture, the tomato paste, and the Meier's Dry Vermouth. Return to medium heat and cook for 5 minutes. Then, boost the heat to high and stir in the diced tomatoes. Cook for five minutes, then remove from the heat. Salt and pepper the coulis, to taste, then stir in the fresh basil leaves. Keep warm over low heat.

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