Perfect Pair: Lamb Supper Club

I became a fan of lamb after judging the Lamb Jam in May.  Now I am a DC Lamb Ambassador and Supper Club host for the Tri-Lamb Group supper club series.  For the second dinner, I cooked a pizza with ground lamb paired with Chrysalis Norton.   

The recipe:

1 package pre-made whole grain pizza dough (about 1-pound), thawed if frozen

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound ground lamb

1 medium shallot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper

¼ cup sliced pepperoncini peppers

¾ cup goat cheese crumbles

2 cups (about 2 ounces) arugula

Caramelized onions (recipe below)

1.        Heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush rimmed baking sheet with 1 teaspoon olive oil; using your hands spread dough over entire length of baking sheet, pushing dough to edge (or roll out on floured surface and transfer to pan). Bake pizza dough for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

2.        Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb, shallot, garlic, tomato paste, oregano, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper, cook until lamb is completely browned about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3.        Brush par-baked crust with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Evenly distribute cooked lamb and pepperoncini, top with crumbled goat cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes, until cheese looks slightly melted and edges of crust are golden brown. Toss arugula with remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil, set aside. Remove from oven and top with dressed arugula.

Caramelized Onions

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon of sugar

Salt and pepper

Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add the onions until they begin to soften.  Stur in sugar and cook.  Stir frequently until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Nutrition per serving: Calories: 490, Total Fat: 21 g, Cholesterol: 85 mg, Sodium: 760 mg, Total Carbohydrate: 40 g, Dietary Fiber: 4 g, Protein: 36 g.

The results:  a delicious lamb pizza to be enjoyed by my supper club guests of friends and fellow foodies including:  Johnna from Johnna Knows Good Food, Winston from Go Venga, Tom and Cy from First Vine Marc from Adelmania, Melanie from Macchu Pisco, Kristen from Kristen Finn Photography and Brittany from Three Lockharts.  

We served the lamb with my Pisco Fig Sangria, Fig Apple Spiked Cider with Diep 9, Roasted Fig Salad with Fig Balsamic, Cottage Cheese Spread, White Bean Salad, and Warm Fig Pudding Cake topped vanilla ice cream for dessert.  (Recipes will be coming soon.)

The Tri-Lamb Group is a collaborative initiative of lamb producer organizations from the U.S., New Zealand and Australia which focuses on educating Americans about lamb.  This year, the supper club series will take place in three cities—Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Boston.  I will host a series of  Lamb Supper Clubs within the next eight months and tell you all about the experiences.  Round 2 with Ground Lamb was a huge success!

Special thank you to the California Fig Association for contributing most beautiful fig selection for our feast, La Diablada for the Pisco, Chrysalis for the Norton pairing and Diep 9 for the spiked cider.

Photos by Kristen Finn