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Lamb With Vegetables Will Please Even Your Meat-And-Potatoes Lover

Marian Burros New York Times

It is a victory of sorts when a meatand-potatoes man praises a meal with only four ounces of lamb, and goes on to comment on the flavors in the yogurt sauce, and even has seconds of the spinach with oranges.

To speed up the preparation, look for ready-to-use vegetables.

Lamb with Vegetables and Yogurt Sauce in a Pita

8 ounces boneless leg of lamb

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 large clove garlic

1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 or 2 sprigs fresh mint, to yield 1 tablespoon minced

2 small cucumbers, about 6 ounces total

2 small ripe tomatoes or 15 or 20 cherry tomatoes, depending on the size

4 ounces red onion

2 large or 4 small whole-wheat pitas

Turn on toaster oven or oven. If using broiler, turn on and cover pan with aluminum foil.

Trim the lamb of fat and marinate in a small bowl with a mixture of vinegar and oil until ready to cook.

Mince the garlic and combine with the yogurt and lemon juice.

Wash, dry and mince the mint, and add to the yogurt.

Wash and trim the ends from the cucumbers and slice very thinly. Wash, trim and slice the tomatoes; then slice the onion thinly.

Prepare stove-top grill, if using. Broil or grill lamb 5 to 7 minutes, turning once, until it is rare.

Wrap pitas in foil and heat for about 3 minutes, until they are hot and soft.

Slice lamb. Slice pitas open. If using large ones, cut in half; fill each half with sauce, lamb, cucumbers, tomatoes and onion, then serve. Keep remaining pitas hot. Repeat with remaining halves or whole small pitas.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 445 calories, 10 grams fat (20 percent fat calories), 60 milligrams cholesterol, 480 milligrams sodium, 35 grams protein, 60 grams carbohydrate.

Spinach with Oranges

10 ounces spinach

1 large clove garlic

2 oranges

1/8 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Wash spinach, and trim.

Mince garlic.

Heat nonstick pot. Saute garlic about 30 seconds, add spinach and cover. Cook until spinach wilts, about 1 or 2 minutes.

Peel oranges and cut each segment in half. Stir into spinach, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 95 calories, 1 gram fat (9 percent fat calories), no cholesterol, 210 milligrams sodium, 5 grams protein, 20 grams carbohydrate.

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