Lamb, as you know, - the meat is very tasty, dietary and even to some extent delicious. But not every housewife decides to serve it on the table. Firstly, because of the specific smell that not every guest will like. Secondly, not everyone decides to cook such meat, believing that the process will take a lot of time and take a lot of energy. Both those and other mistresses are mistaken. Oven- baked lamb in foil is an ideal dish for a festive table and very quick to prepare. The meat is tender.
So, on the agenda - lamb in foil, baked in the oven. A step by step recipe with a photo is attached. Let's start
Ingredients
The most important ingredient is, of course, lamb. The leg baked in the oven (in foil) and served on lettuce leaves will look amazing on the table and will taste perfect. But you can take the ribs, brisket or other parts. In total, we need one kilogram of meat.
Also, in order to prepare a delicious lamb in foil in the oven, you will need two or three large onions, salt and ground pepper to taste, a small bunch of seedless grapes, Caucasian herbs (if they are not available, you can use any spices for meat, which you like).
Stage 1. Preparation of meat
As in any recipe where meat is involved, preliminary preparation plays an important role in the preparation of lamb. The piece should be washed and soaked for a couple of hours in slightly salted water. During this manipulation all unnecessary and excess blood will go away, a specific smell will disappear, so unloved by many. The meat will become softer and more tender, salted. After the lamb has taken a salt bath, it is no longer necessary to rinse it, just dry it with a paper towel.
Stage 2. Spices
We proceed to the preparation of meat for baking. It is important to note that preparing any dish in foil is a quick and easy process. This material often saves housewives from unnecessary waste of time preparing food. Lamb in foil, baked in the oven, a recipe with a photo of which we provide today, is no exception to the rule.
But before you put a piece of meat in the foil and bake, it should be well seasoned with spices. For our recipe, Caucasian ones are best. They can be purchased at any specialized store. If the lamb in foil, baked in the oven, is cooked with you, so to speak, in a hurry, and there are no spices needed at hand - it's okay. Take ordinary ground allspice or a mixture of peppers, a little greens (certainly it can be found in the refrigerator), turmeric or curry for a nice color.
Stage 3. Pickling
Before cooking, any meat is best marinated, especially lamb. Before pickling, we advise you to finely chop the onions and make them a “litter” and a “blanket” for meat. We spread part of the onions in the dishes, put the meat on top and cover with a “blanket” from the remaining vegetable.
In this form, lamb should be pickled in the refrigerator for three to four hours. If time is short, then an hour is enough, but ideally - the more the better, because the meat will be juicier and more tender.
Stage 4. Grapes
The tart and sweet taste of grapes plays an important role in the recipe "Lamb in foil, baked in the oven." Connoisseurs are advised to take black or green, pitted, so as not to spend a lot of time cutting this product.
So, the bunch of grapes needs to be washed, sorted into its component parts. Each berry needs to be cut in half. The work is painstaking, but it is really worth the time spent and subsequently will have a good effect on the overall taste of the dish.
Stage 5. Foil to the rescue
We proceed to complete the baking dish. On a large piece of foil (you should not regret it), we lay the lamb marinated with onions, place grape slices on top. An important point is sealing the foil.
Try to carefully wrapped the meat so that there are no gaps or tears in the material. This is done so that during cooking the lamb does not dry out and is well baked.
Stage 6. Oven
Prepare and preheat the oven in advance (up to 200 degrees). How much to bake lamb in the oven in foil? It will take not so much time to prepare this dish as it seems to many housewives. If you well wrapped the meat in foil, it will be cooked in forty to fifty minutes.
Of course, a lot depends on the time of pickling meat, on the type of meat that you decided to use for the recipe and, of course, on the work of the oven itself.
Stage 7. Submission
There are several options here. If you want to serve lamb in a piece for each guest, you will have to bake each piece in a separate foil. But the option of “one piece” will be more economical, which you later, before serving, simply cut into portions and serve on one plate. You can decorate it with a beautiful green leaf of lettuce.
Lamb with potatoes
When you want to save time and serve meat immediately with a side dish, then lamb in foil, baked in the oven with potatoes, will be a godsend. For this recipe you will need: a pound of lamb, one small carrot, four to six large potatoes, a pinch of raisins and the same amount of prunes, half a glass of red wine, spices to taste.
For this recipe, experts advise taking a large piece of tenderloin. It should be washed and small cuts should be made on the top. In these holes we place small plates of carrots. Then we salt the meat, pepper and rub it with spices or aromatic dry herbs.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into circles. We line the baking sheet with foil. We put potato circles on it, then we put prunes and on top - meat. Then we put a pinch of raisins, pour wine and close the foil tightly, as in the first recipe. Remember, the denser the meat is covered with foil, the better it will be baked.
According to this recipe, the oven should be heated to 160 -170 degrees. Cooking time will be increased, but the wait is worth the result. One hour has passed and the meat can be taken out of the oven.
The advantage of this recipe is that the meat here is already combined with a delicious side dish. During cooking, the potato is saturated with juice, saturated with wine and fruit aromas, becomes soft and crumbly.
Lamb with honey
As you already understood, lamb is meat that is amazingly combined with sweet additional ingredients, whether it be carrots, raisins, and prunes. Honey is no exception.
We offer you a quick and easy recipe. Lamb in foil, baked in the oven with honey, will surely appeal to your family and friends. To prepare, take: a pound of lamb, four tablespoons of honey, a sprig of rosemary, a couple of spoons of mustard, ground pepper, salt, lemon juice (1-2 teaspoons), 3 cloves of garlic.
The main point in this recipe is marinating meat. This procedure takes a lot of time, so cook the marinade in the evening, and already cook the meat the next day. Before pickling, the meat, as usual, is thoroughly washed under running water and wiped with a dry cloth.
Cooking marinade. Mix lemon juice, honey and mustard in a small bowl. Add honey, salt, pepper and spices. We throw a sprig of rosemary, flavored with chopped garlic. In this marinade, meat should spend at least 10-12 hours. The longer the meat marinates, the better and faster it will cook. Pickle a piece in the evening, refrigerate, and you can cook the next morning.
After the meat is marinated, you can cook the oven. Preheat it to 200 degrees. Lay a piece of foil on a baking sheet and place the meat there. Top you can pour the remaining marinade. Wrap tightly and send to bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Five minutes before cooking, you can remove the pan, slightly open the foil and put it back into the oven for another ten minutes. After such manipulations, the meat inside will be tender and juicy, and a rosy honey crust will form on top.
Lamb sauces
Lamb baked in the oven is already an exquisite and festive dish. But if you want to surprise and please your guests even more, then add in addition an original sauce - peppermint, garlic or cranberry.
But we offer an option even more unusual - orange-wine. To prepare it you will need: a glass of red wine, one large orange, several cloves of garlic, one large onion, a pinch of dried thyme and rosemary, one tablespoon of melted honey, a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Pour some frying oil into the pan and place the finely chopped onion. Passage, gradually add other ingredients: chopped garlic, freshly squeezed orange juice, dried herbs, spices. Pour a glass of red wine and simmer it all over low heat. The readiness of the sauce is checked by its density. As soon as the total mass of liquid decreases by a factor of 2-3, the sauce will be ready. Enjoy your meal!