Lamb Kabobs, an Easter Tradition
Happy Easter! Hope you had a blessed day and of course, a memorable meal among family and friends.
Beyond dying Easter Eggs, Easter, at large, does not have common foods of symbolic significance associated with it, although many Middle Eastern Christians always serve lamb, a symbol of sacrificial lamb, or the Lamb of God.
Lamb is also the choice at my home for Easter, served as Kabobs, skewered and grilled then served alongside a broad variety of dishes buffet. The Lamb Kabobs make me think of a time and the place of Jesus, reflective on types of food common to that area, meals perhaps shared, and those foods as lamb, ceremonial.
Besides the lamb, there is cous cous with dried fruits and nuts, yogurt dip, honey, eggplant, thyme and common spices such as what I use for the lamb kabobs in the recipe below, also, hummus, pita bread, and Za’atar. Really, it has always been just my own little tradition into the Easter meal, but guests seem to enjoy the thought.
This Easter, similar to last year met with the in-between out of state travel to see my youngest, Alex the Athlete, and her team play in a Tournament the day before, and as you know, always followed up with one of our amazing Team Family Tailgates. While every Tailgate is special, this one held a special meaning to me as we celebrated Alex’s 21st Birthday. This was an emotional one for me feeling so grateful and blessed for such a beautiful daughter that when I called and sang Happy Birthday on her cell, I began crying so much it was hard for me to get out all I had to say, but as I shared with friends, if not then, when? Seize the Moment.
As part of the celebration my grandson, the J-Dude, and I prepared a sixteen-inch chocolate butter cake using a recipe from the cookbook, The Cake Bible. Making this cake twice to fill the cake pan then required two pounds of butter just to give you an idea. The restaurant version would perhaps feature spooned raspberry sauce on a plate, the sliced cake sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar, a mint garnish for about $7.50 a slice, maybe more. The challenge then was in the face of the Tailgate, having to makeshift an icing on the cake, a little less desirable given the high quality caliber, including ingredients, but required in the circumstance. In addition, we were also celebrating Alex’s teammate Shelly’s 21st Birthday so along with the makeshift icing, I had to use those squeeze bottles marking out their names in between our planned 21 number candles that Shelly’s Mom brought for the girls. Well, let us just say the letters in Alex’s name began melting into each other by the time we got around to singing, still by then it was nearly dark so it all worked out.
Given the extra timing on the cake, gifts, Easter Baskets and candies, many of the families catching up with each other and the players, including one of our dear team families visiting from Wales, I rather got lost in the moments. Therefore, I forgot to set aside some grilled salmon topped with the tomatoes and scallions for our Coach, which is one of his favorites. The dish, completely wiped out upon his arrival to the Tailgate, and since I generally take care of this feature, I just felt awful and disappointed about that so then promised to make him a special one on the next Tailgate round.
Due to Tournament timing and arriving home at 10:30 pm, this year’s Easter Meal with my Mom and Aunt Betty down the shore was made a little easier with a ham and homemade potato salad which I had mostly prepared prior to the sports travel.
Still, Lamb Kabobs as part of the Easter meal have become a special tradition to me, so also prepared ahead were the common Middle Eastern spice marinated lamb kabobs that we shared this evening. Along with the lamb included foods, herbs, and spices reflective of a time and common to a place, recounting the life of the man named Jesus. Blessings to all in the joyous Easter season.
Grilled Lamb Kabobs, an Easter Tradition
Ingredients
- 4-5 pound boneless lamb roast
- For the Spice Combination:
- 1 1/2 teaspoon each: ground coriander, cumin, coarse kosher salt and pepper
- 1 scant teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preparing the Lamb: Pat dry lamb using paper toweling, set into a casserole dish then rub lamb all over with the spices, cover with plastic wrap and let marinate overnight
- Cooking the Lamb: Remove lamb from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for one-half hour before grilling
- Preheat grill on medium high temperature
- Set lamb onto the grill and let sear around 5 minutes before turning over and searing on the other side for five minutes, reduce heat to low, close lid and cook another 15-20 minutes, check on done-ness, lamb should be medium rare. If lamb is still very rare cook another ten minutes or a bit longer, do not overcook
- Transfer lamb to a platter and tent, letting lamb rest for ten minutes before cutting
- Slice lamb or cut roast into one or one- and- a- half- inch bite sized cubes, thread 2 or three cooked cubes of lamb onto each skewer before serving
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