Lamb Kapama

This is a dish I first had at Cava Mezze where it is absolutely to die for; it is also pretty good at Plaka Grill.

Recipe-googling produced quite a few variations on the basic idea (lamb stewed in a rich tomato sauce) but I wanted it like I’d had it in the restaurants: with orzo. The recipe I judged most credible came from Shaboom’s Kitchen; you can see it here.

I substituted lamb shanks for slices of leg of lamb. Lamb shanks are one of the toughest cuts and must be stewed for a while to become tender; the recipe calls for two hours of stewing and that was plenty to get the meat falling off the bone. Shanks also produce lots of gelatin as the connective tissues render out; I thought this added to the texture.

There were two more very important deviations from the recipe. First, I added the orzo to the dutch oven after stripping the meat from the shanks, as pasta absorbing sauce = good. Second, I grated up some parrano (“The Dutch cheese that thinks it’s Italian”) and sprinkled it over top of our bowls. Delicious.

Regrets: the 1/8th teaspoon of cinnamon is probably not enough, at least with the pre-ground cinnamon I used. The undeniable hint of cinnamon is part of what makes this dish so distinctively delicious. I’ll be honest though, it was really good even without a noticeable amount of cinnamon.

Did I mention that this dish is really easy? Aside from the fact that it takes two hours of stewing (which takes no attention at all) and using my cast iron skillet for browning the shanks (guess who’s getting a bigger dutch oven for Christmas?) this is an extremely simple dish that only takes a cutting board, a dutch oven, a plate to rest the browned meat on, and a pot and strainer for the orzo.

I am definitely making this one again– it’s so delicious, it is now one of my main reasons for going to the restaurants I listed above. Go test drive it at one of those and you’ll see what I’m talking about.