Sami’a Stuffed Lamb Breast

My first experience with Iraqi food was at the house of Sami Zubaida, a great cook and professor of Middle Eastern politics at University of London, who had invited a dozen friends to dinner. When we sat down, two beautifully roasted stuffed breasts of lamb were delivered to the tables on a large platter. Stuffed with rice, nuts, and dried fruits, the lamb breasts had been braised, then roasted, and they had a burnished reddish-brown patina. They were accompanied by another platter, holding enormous carrots that were about 3 inches in diameter and had been hollowed out and filled with ground lamb.
I soon learned that Sami’s family came from Baghdad’s Jewish community, which has a long history and a well-developed culture, including its own style of cooking dating back many centuries. In the 1960s, as a result of one of the Arab-Israeli wars, Sami’s family and the rest of the Iraqi Jewish community were thrown out with no warning, and Sami and many other displaced Iraqi Jews ended up in London. This dish takes a little time to prepare. Although lamb breast is a humble cut, it’s worthy of any special occasion.

SERVES: 8

INGREDIENTS:

STUFFING

• 1 cup ¼-inch diced peeled carrots
• 1 cup ¼-inch diced red onions
• 5 cups cooked basmati rice
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 2½ teaspoons Baharat (recipe follows)
• 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (see Sources), hot Hungarian paprika, or New Mexico chile powder
• ½ cup dried currants or raisins
• ½ cup dried apricots, cut into ½-inch dice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• ½ cup roasted almonds
• ½ cup shelled pistachios
• ½ cup thinly sliced scallions
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, melted
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

LAMB BREAST

• 2 large bone-in lamb breasts or 3 smaller lamb breasts (about 5 pounds total)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

BAGHDAD BRAISING SAUCE

• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped peeled carrots
• 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper, hot Hungarian paprika, or New Mexico chile powder
• 2 pinches of saffron threads
• 1 tablespoon Baharat (recipe follows)
• 1 cup homemade lamb stock (see [>]) or canned low-sodium chicken broth, or more if needed
• 1 cup peeled, halved, seeded, and diced vine-ripened tomatoes, or 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. To make the stuffing, bring a small pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and cook for 4 minutes. Add the red onions and cook for 1 minute more. Drain and add to a large bowl, along with all the remaining stuffing ingredients. Toss until the rice is coated with butter and everything is well mixed. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Lay a lamb breast fat side up on a cutting board. Remove any fell (papery membrane) by loosening one end and tearing it off, and trim away any excess external fat. With a sharp knife, cut a pocket between the rib bones and the meat along the length of each breast. The pocket should come to about ½ inch from the opposite side and the ends. Open up the pocket and fill it with half (or one third, if using 3 breasts) of the rice stuffing. Seal the pocket with small metal skewers. Repeat with the remaining breast(s). Season well with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
4. Heat roasting pan set over two burners over medium-high heat. Add the breasts, fat side down (no oil is needed), and brown for 3 to 5 minutes. Flip and brown the bone side for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the lamb and set aside.
5. To make the sauce, pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the roasting pan and add the onions and carrots. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the Aleppo pepper, saffron, and baharat and stir until the vegetables are well coated. Add the stock and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato paste until well mixed.
6. Return the lamb to the roasting pan on top of the sauce, fat side up. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Roast for 45 minutes, then flip the breasts over and check to make sure there is plenty of liquid in the pan, adding water or stock if needed. Reseal the pan with foil and roast for another 45 minutes, then flip over again so that the fat side is up. Reseal the pan, roast for 30 minutes more, then remove the foil. Spoon some sauce over the top of the lamb, adding more water or stock if needed, and roast for 30 minutes more (2½ hours total), until the meat is very tender and beginning to pull away from the bone. If it is not tender, continue to roast, checking the meat and liquid level every 20 minutes and adding more liquid if needed. When done, transfer the lamb to a warmed platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil.
7.  Pour the sauce into a saucepan and grease the surface. Taste the sauce, which should be full-flavored; if needed, boil it to concentrate the flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8.  To serve, cut the breasts into 2-rib pieces and ladle over some of the sauce. Serve the extra sauce on the side. Alternative Cuts: Boneless leg of lamb, lamb shoulder, or boneless breast of goat. Make only a half recipe of the stuffing. The cooking time and method are the same as for the lamb breast.

COOK’S NOTES

• Aleppo pepper (see Sources) has a sweet, raising flavor and is mildly spicy. Use more or less to suit your taste. Hungarian hot paprika or ground New Mexico chiles are acceptable substitutes. If you have extra rice stuffing after stuffing the breasts, bake it in a buttered
  casserole for 20 to 30 minutes and serve on the side.

LEFTOVER

• Make a stew of the leftovers: First remove the stuffing from the breast and transfer it to a casserole. Remove the meat from the bone, then combine the meat and sauce with cooked okra or green beans or roasted chunks of eggplant and heat until hot. Bake the rice at 350°F until warmed through and serve on the side.