We had some ground lamb in the freezer just begging to be smoked. I snitched a few sprigs of rosemary from the neighbor's yard, chopped them fine & dropped them in some EVOO to steep. I also crushed a large garlic clove and zested a whole lemon into the EVOO. The oil steeped for 4-5 hours.
I strained & pressed the solids out of the oil and drizzled the oil into the ground lamb. Italian bread crumbs sopped up some moisture & I formed 35 small meatballs (1-1.25" diameter).
I also stuffed some button mushrooms and ABT's with ground pork sausage, pineapple, cheddar cheese, and Italian bread crumbs (actually, no pineapple in the mushrooms -- too much moisture which makes them super soggy).
My son doesn't like Jalapeno heat, so I split an Anaheim and stuffed it for him. I also found a few pork chops in the half-off bin this morning and threw those in after dusting them with Rudy's, pepper, and brown sugar. I smoked everything between 225-250*. The appetizers were done in about 1.5 hours, and the chops and meatballs in about 2ish+ hours (pulled at 160* internal temp). Here's the finished shot (the appetizers were inhaled before I could get the camera focused LOL!!!).
The lamb was fantastic; it went through 3 flavor phases on the palate: smoke, lamb, lemon. The smoke ring went over half way in, & the meat flavor was very mild and tasty. We served them over rice. The only changes I would make would be a bit less lemon zest in the EVOO, and some sort of sweet sauce to pour over the lamb/rice pile.
Thanks for looking!!!
I strained & pressed the solids out of the oil and drizzled the oil into the ground lamb. Italian bread crumbs sopped up some moisture & I formed 35 small meatballs (1-1.25" diameter).
I also stuffed some button mushrooms and ABT's with ground pork sausage, pineapple, cheddar cheese, and Italian bread crumbs (actually, no pineapple in the mushrooms -- too much moisture which makes them super soggy).
My son doesn't like Jalapeno heat, so I split an Anaheim and stuffed it for him. I also found a few pork chops in the half-off bin this morning and threw those in after dusting them with Rudy's, pepper, and brown sugar. I smoked everything between 225-250*. The appetizers were done in about 1.5 hours, and the chops and meatballs in about 2ish+ hours (pulled at 160* internal temp). Here's the finished shot (the appetizers were inhaled before I could get the camera focused LOL!!!).
The lamb was fantastic; it went through 3 flavor phases on the palate: smoke, lamb, lemon. The smoke ring went over half way in, & the meat flavor was very mild and tasty. We served them over rice. The only changes I would make would be a bit less lemon zest in the EVOO, and some sort of sweet sauce to pour over the lamb/rice pile.
Thanks for looking!!!
