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Bulgur Wheat with Leftover Lamb

Here’s a dish I concocted when I had some leftover rare lamb from a roast. I had stripped most of the meat from the bone, but there was enough still clinging in the crevices to make a meaty broth, so I put the meat and the bone in a pot with an onion and a carrot, poured cold water over, and let it simmer for an hour or so. It made about 5 cups of lamb broth, most of which I stored in the freezer.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon raisins
1 cup or more lamb broth or other meat stock thinned with water
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 small onion
1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in thin slices
4 or 5 medium mushrooms, roughly chopped
4 or 5 chunks cooked lamb
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A handful of young spinach leaves or watercress
1 tablespoon pine nuts

Preparation

  1. Soak the raisins in water to cover for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 3/4 cup of the lamb broth to a boil, and stir in the bulgur wheat. Cover, and cook at a lively simmer for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, and adding a little more broth if needed. While that’s cooking, sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in oil until softened. Add the lamb, and let brown a little, then sprinkle on the cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour on 1/4 cup broth. Drain the raisins, squeezing the water out, and add them. Simmer together a few minutes, then scatter the spinach leaves on top, cover, and cook just until the spinach has wilted, 1–2 minutes. Spoon into a warm bowl, and sprinkle pine nuts on top.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved. Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.
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