This is a dish I grew up with, a friend of the family who is ethnic Albanian but grew up in Egypt would make this for us, its an Egyptian dish. I would get so excited when she would bring this! When I got older and learned how to cook I asked her for this recipe, and have been making it ever since!
What you will need:
- 3 lbs lamb or more depending how much you need. I like the shoulder part its always tender, ask the butcher to cut it into small pieces.
- 2 cups long grain rice
- 1/4 cup orzo
- 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp oil for frying orzo
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 cloves garlic chopped up
- 2-3 pieces of thick pita bread
- 1- 2 tbsp vinegar
- A few spoons of liquid from the baked lamb
Seasoning for lamb (that I like to use, you may use any seasoning you like) :
- Montreal steak spice, garlic cloves, garlic salt, seasoning salt and paprika marinate with olive oil for at least 4 hours.
Roast lamb in 375 degree oven covered for around 1 and 1/2 -2 hours till meat is cooked and tender.
For the rice melt butter add the oil and fry the orzo till brown, add the rice and fill with 2 and 1/2 cups water season with salt cover with lid and boil on low to medium heat, check on it and stir a couple of times. As its cooking I would add some of the lamb ‘juices’ to it for added flavour.
In a small pan melt the other spoon of butter and cook the garlic till you can smell the aroma remove from heat.
Break the pita by hand or use a knife cut into bite size pieces. Toast bread till lightly toasted. Place on the serving dish, spoon over the garlic butter and some of the lamb juices and sprinkle the vinegar on top.
Top with the cooked rice and lay the lamb on top, spoon over some of the liquid ‘juices’ from the lamb for more flavour.