Cumin Themed Lamb and Shrimp Dishes

I've not had any lamb for quite a while. Shelley is not a fan of the lamb so it has never hit the menu around our house. If you are a fan of the Food Network, you'll notice they cook a lot of lamb dishes. Today was my breaking point....I just had to have lamb for dinner. So, what to serve my girl for dinner if I'm choosing down on the lamb?

I got some inspiration from one of the cooking shows to spice the lamb with fennel seed and cumin. What can I bring to the table that incorporates at least one of those spices? Googling shrimp and cumin brought me to another food blog, whatstomcooking. Hey, if Tom can combine shrimp and cumin, so can I. One thing I find with shrimp marinades, spices, etc. is that many recipies overpower the taste of the shrimp. Hey, I bought shrimp so I could taste the shrimp...not ONLY the spices or marinades they are cooked in. This is by no means any reflection on Tom's recipe, I just changed it up a bit to suit my tastes.

Grilled Shrimp with Cumin and Lemon
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1 lb. large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and patted dry
Olive oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
Course salt and fresh ground pepper
Bamboo skewers
1/2 lemon
2 tbsp. fresh oregano

Heat your BBQ up, searing temp.

Put the shrimp in a bowl, add about 1 Tbsp of olive oil and toss. Add the cumin seeds, salt and pepper to taste and again toss to distribute the spices. Skewer the shrimp.

Lightly oil your BBQ grill and allow the grill to come back to searing temp. Place the lemon, cut side down, on the grill. Cook the shrimp about 2 minutes per side.

Remove the lemon and set aside to cool while you take the shrimp off the skewers and place in your serving bowl. Add the fresh oregano to the bowl and squeeze the lemon over top. Toss to coat.

As alluded to earlier, we found that the use of cumin seeds vs. ground cumin added both a crunch to the shrimp and a nice flavour that didn't overpower the shrimp.

Grilled Lamb with Fennel and Cumin
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Lamb Chops, cut 1" thick, enough to feed those that like lamb ;)
Fennel seed
Cumin seed
Ground cumin
Course salt and fresh ground pepper

It doesn't get much simpler than this, however the taste was fantastic. Again the slight crunch added by using whole seeds added that crunchy layer I like, yet didn't overpower the main ingredient, the lamb! You'll need to play the spicing by feel. Basically you'll use a pinch of fennel seed, cumin seed, salt and pepper and then a very light "dusting" of ground cumin on each piece of lamb. A pinch will work for the ground cumin.

I grilled my lamb about 3 minutes per side on the hot grill mentioned above. This produced a perfectly seared, medium rare chop that melted in my mouth. Even the look on Shelley's face took nothing away from my enjoyment ;)

I served the lamb and shrimp grill with some homemade hummus and pita. Hummus recipe to follow in a later blog.

Enjoy cooking and experimenting.