This time of year, especially with last month’s heat wave, it is hard to work up the desire to eat a large, heavy meal. Instead, it’s the season for casual meals made from a collection of small plates and salads, served at whatever temperature they happen to be.
While it can be great, nourishing even, to eat only salads for a few days, you will eventually want something a little more substantial, something like this lamb and cheese dish, covered with an abundance of herbs, served with bread and a vegetable on the side.
The recipe below takes inspiration and style from a more involved recipe in the new cookbook, “Where Cooking Begins,” by Carla Lalli Music, the food director at Bon Appétit magazine. The book is written in an instructional style, with base recipes that teach technique, allowing the home cook to learn skills he or she can then apply to a wide range of recipes.
For this 5:30 Challenge, I’ve trimmed the ingredient list, but kept the general technique intact: Heat a heavy skillet until it is ripping hot, then smash a pound and a half of ground lamb into a giant patty into a bit of olive oil. Let it cook, undisturbed, until the bottom is richly caramelized and deeply browned, before flipping it over, in pieces, and letting it finish cooking for just a minute or two. Scoop this meat out, leaving most of the fat behind, and top it with some marinated cheese — halloumi, if you can find it, feta if you can’t — and whatever herbs you’d like. Even if you enjoy a glass of wine while you cook, it’ll be ready in 20 minutes.
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