Wild Firebrand

As you all know, my mom and dad grew up in Saudi Arabia and our family culture is heavily influenced by the middle east. Mom and Dad took us to several countries, like Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait, etc. where we enjoyed the local culture and especially, the cuisine! One of our favorite protein sources is lamb — and we make it differently than most Americans. Stateside, cinnamon is usually used for sweet things like Cinnamon Rolls, or Cinnamon Toast, or Cinnamon bread, or other bakery items, but overseas, cinnamon is also used to flavor meat. So, that is how our family roasts lamb — and it’s delicious!

We mix equal parts of cinnamon and garlic to coat the outside of a lamb roast.

Once that’s ground together, we also poke holes in the roast and insert garlic cloves deep into the meat because we never seem to feel like too much garlic is too much garlic…..(we also serve lamb with tabouli — also with a ton of garlic, and hummus — also with a lot of garlic…), so yeah, garlic.

Stab some holes in the raw lamb.

And shove some cloves into the holes.

Whole Cloves — shoved deep!

All over — like gopher holes!

Then cover the whole thing with the cinnamon/garlic rub. All over – top, sides and bottom!

Pour some broth into the bottom of the roasting pan and add….yep, some more garlic. I crush cloves to release their juicy flavor! Then set your oven to 350 degrees and roast the lamb uncovered for 20min/lb. Now, I like to roast it with the fat cap on top and then flip it over for the last half hour of roasting time, but you do you, boo! It’s your lamb!!

Once a meat thermometer reaches 120 (rare) – 125 (med rare) – 130 (medium), it can come out of the oven, but DON’T CARVE IT — let it rest. and rest. and rest. and rest. and rest.

Now, you can roast it with a bone or partial bone or boneless — that’s a matter of taste and supply availability. TOTALLY UP TO YOU! But, don’t cook it past medium. That’s an abomination.

Look at how pretty that is! And it’s so tempting to start carving, but don’t. Let it rest for AT LEAST a half hour — go put some potatoes in the oven or something. But let the juices reabsorb into that beautiful piece of meat!

And, then carve it.

A THING OF BEAUTY!!! Succulent, flavorful, tender, and tasty!!

Now, your brother/my son likes it with mint jelly. I do too, but I also know you girls/my daughters like it with the cucumber/yogurt sauce, so BONUS recipe:

Take some plain greek yogurt, dice some cucumbers, add some (more garlic), and lemon juice into a bowl. Add mint or dill or parsley and stir it up. Store in the fridge until dinner time….serve with lamb.

YUM!!! Enjoy it — and each other’s company while gathered around a table laughing, sharing stories, remembering the good times, and dreaming of the future. I wish you all the wonderful things life has to offer. Love — yo momma! Blessed be.