Paleo Dinner: Grilled Leg of Lamb and Greek Salad

We never had lamb growing up.  We had a lot of beef, pork, unique ethnic food, but never lamb.  My mom grew up on a farm and I think she watched one too many of her pet sheep make it to the dinner table or perhaps she never had a properly prepared lamb dinner.  Or, quite possibly, gyros were not available at her neighborhood diner so she didn't experience the blend of feta, cucumber tzatziki sauce and lamb all on a thick pita.  Whatever the reason, we didn't have lamb.  She said it tasted like hair on her tongue. 

I'm not sure when I first had lamb.  Maybe it was in a gyro in downtown Seattle some 20 years ago, but I knew when I tried it, I was never going back to the lambless life.

I remember making a pot of lamb stew- a perfect fall day comfort food.  My parents were visiting.  My dad tried it and went nuts.  He couldn't get enough.  He asked, "What is this?  It's so good!!"  I told him it was lamb, not beef.  He too was sold on the deliciousness of lamb.

This week we've been reading about the Exodus of the Israelites and the Passover.  We read how the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb, brush the doorposts with blood so they'd be passed over when the first born of all houses and livestock were killed during the tenth Plague in Egypt.  We also read how they had to prepare the Passover lamb before they left on the Exodus.  Because of this, I've been thinking of my own Passover meal of lamb for days.

Today we had to run a couple errands so I stopped by Costco to pick up a leg of lamb to grill.  To be honest, it almost hurts to spend $30 on about four pounds of meat, but the craving had to be satisfied.

I oiled the lamb with olive oil, put some fresh garlic inside the meat along with rosemary sprigs.  I sprinkled a Mediterranean seasoning (cumin and coriander) on the outside along with kosher salt and pepper.  It was ready for the grill.  The packaging read grilling time would be approximately 20 minutes for every pound or until meat is about 145 degrees when checked.

Leg of lamb on the grill

Oh My!!!  I'm so excited for dinner!

So yummy!

To accompany the lamb and meet the Paleo requirement of the month, I decided to make one of my favorite Greek Salads.

Gather fresh vegetables like: Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Red Onion, Grape Tomatoes

This will make such a colorful salad

Dice the vegetables in bite size pieces, place in large bowl.  Add kalamata olives, artichoke hearts (if desired, not marinated), and feta.  My salad won't have feta as I'm trying to be strict Paleo, but the rest of the family can enjoy the feta.

Kalamata Olives

Dressing

About 3 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon juice from 1/2- 1 whole lemon.  We have lemons now that are so juicy, I only needed about 1/2.  You need about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
2 garlic cloves diced
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh
Many Greek dressing call for anchovy paste.  I rarely have anchovy paste on hand, but I almost always have fish sauce for Asian cooking.  I just add a sprinkle of fish sauce to the dressing.  No one ever knows it's there, so no worries of it being fishy.
Mix dressing well and pour over salad.

Dressing



Greek Salad with Feta- Perfect for Summer!



Dinner is Served- Enjoy!