Grilled Lamb and Peaches with Peach and Green Bean Succotash

You might consider a hearty red meat like lamb a more winter-appropriate food, not on your summer cookout menu. Or you might associate it with restaurants rather than your home-cooking menu, any time of the year. But I think it’s a secret weapon to creating a fun outdoor feast that tastes like it came from a gourmet gastropub.

Why don’t we eat more lamb at home? I think I speak for most of my friends and I by saying that I don’t eat meat every day, so when I do it’s no problem to get a really high-quality cut from a sustainable producer. Fortunately, this is really easy to do with lamb. You don’t see the vast misuse of antibiotics and growth hormones like in other American meats, and its farmers, especially small farms, can typically pasture-raise lamb more easily than beef. Lamb is also rich in nutrients, with much more omega-3 fatty-acids than beef. Unfortunately however, the US lamb market got so volatile and crowded with imported meat from Australia and New Zealand that it almost collapsed a couple decades ago, triggering a co-op of ranchers to band together and form the Mountain States Rosen meat company, where I got my weekend cookout entrée from. (In groceries, their lamb goes by the labels Cedar Springs or Shepherd’s Pride.) According to Elizabeth Dressler of Mountain States Rosen, “These family ranchers are multigenerational and pass along decades of lamb breeding and best-practice raising protocols, ensuring that finely-tuned genetics, exercise regimens and the nutritious blends of grass and vegetarian feed yield the most delicious, tender and juicy eating experience.” Having visited a few lamb farms in my state, I have a lot of admiration for these serious skills. And I wanted to salute those farmers doing it in the best form possible… er, by eating lamb. And serving it to friends for a lively summer barbecue. 

Lamb is good, but I swear I haven’t eaten enough of the juicy summer peaches this year yet (and I eat almost one a day). A grilled peach half served next to some charred slices of lamb sounded great–the intensely sweet sludge of peach would make a perfect “sauce” when eaten together. Then as a side, I skipped the “starch” and went for a bean and sweet corn-speckled succotash, which is almost a salad but really could be eaten as an entire, vegan meal alone. Since it’s summer, I added green beans and more peaches, cut fresh to cubes, to this mix along with some bell pepper and onion. A few mint sprigs from my cookout hostess’ garden made a perfect flourish.

green beans are blanched, shocked and chopped separately to preserve their greenness and snap

fresh corn, bell pepper and onion is sauteed with a little cayenne pepper to soften

It was really good, but it was even better to see the less lamb-inclined really get into this dish. I can totally understand it when people have hang-ups about certain foods that they believe they dislike, or don’t believe in for various reasons, but it seemed like several people just hadn’t eaten enough lamb to decide their opinion on it at this party. “What did you do to this lamb to make it taste so good?” was the question that I got a couple times. I really didn’t do anything but salt and pepper it before plopping it on a fiery grill. Really. But I did choose a butterflied leg of lamb which was an economical choice compared to dainty chops as well as a party-friendly large serving. And unlike bone-in leg of lamb, it doesn’t need to be low-heat roasted or braised for hours. With no bones, it’s easy to grill but it can be irregularly shaped compared to slabs of steaks; you can either portion it into smaller pieces to cook lesser or longer times individually, or cook it whole to have some pieces that are more rare or well-done, which suits a party full of people with varying preferences.

extra peach halves and lamb go down on the grill

As it turned out, my friends were so generous with their potluck contributions at this party that they made or brought great additions to this feast, including grass-fed steaks, a whole fish, sausages, some vegetarian dan dan noodles and an heirloom tomato panzanella. We did not have dessert (I guess the few baker-extraordinnaires in our circle had left town that weekend), but we did not have appetites anyway for it after that. I think grilled peaches could make an excellent quick substitute for this alone. All together, this meal highlights exactly what I love about summer: trying out new foods or cooking techniques with a group and enjoying it together. All the better if that serves another purpose, too, which in this case is to help spread the American-raised lamb love a bit more. I’m loving it for one, and it’s not thanks to a restaurant.

Grilled Lamb and Peaches with Peach and Green Bean Succotash
(serves about 6-8)

for the succotash:
1/2 cup black-eyed peas (or other small dried beans, such as black turtle beans or cannellini), soaked in at least 3 inches of water to cover overnight
1/2 lb fresh green beans, ends trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 ears sweet corn, shucked and kernels cut off from the cob
1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 peaches, cored and diced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

for the lamb entree
2-3 lbs butterflied leg of lamb (can be found from Cedar Springs or Shepherd’s Pride), or substitute with about 3-4 lbs bone-in lamb rib chops)
4 peaches, sliced in half and pits removed
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Rinse the beans and cover with 2 inches of water in a small pot. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered until beans are just tender (about 30 minutes). Drain and let cool completely.

Bring another pot of lightly salted water to a bowl. Prepare a large bowl of ice water on the side. Once water is boiling, drop in the green beans and cook no longer than 1 minute. Transfer immediately to the ice bath with tongs, until the beans are cool. Rinse and drain thoroughly. Chop into 1/2″ sections. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and set aside.

In a large pan or skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat and once it just begins to bubble, add the remaining 1 Tb olive oil. Add the chopped onion, pepper and corn kernels to the pan along with the cayenne pepper and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes, or until the vegetables are just softened. Remove from heat and add any additional salt and pepper to taste. Let cool at least 20 minutes before stirring in the blanched and chopped green beans and the diced peaches. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before servings.

for the lamb entree
2-3 lbs Cedar Springs or Shepherd’s Pride butterflied leg of lamb (or substitute with about 3-4 lbs bone-in lamb rib chops
4 peaches, sliced in half and pits removed
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil