Lamb and Halloumi skewers

I don't think anything pleases my neighborhood butcher more than when I walk up to the counter and say, "I'm craving lamb." On one such day, he supplied me with a generous bundle of lamb cubes to celebrate the grilling season and satiate my craving for ovine flavors.

I then continued to wander the grocery aisles in search of something to accompany the meal -- a few yellow potatoes, and some fresh tomato. Then I saw a new cheese display and, after some digging in the softer cheeses section, came up with a piece of halloumi cheese.

Halloumi is a wonderful, versatile cheese that I find satisfying because of its "meatiness," a chewy bite not unlike a big piece of fresh mozzarella or paneer. It has a high melting point so a lot of people grill it. This also means that you can pretty much flavor it any way you like.

So, the cheese was cubed and thrown into a bowl with the lamb, tossed with salt, pepper, a good douse of olive oil, some dried thyme (we had run out of oregano) and, if I remember correctly, a dash of cayenne and/or cumin. After about an hour, we threaded these on to skewers and threw them on the grill on high heat.

I decided that some crispy, garlicky potatoes would be a nice companion to the grilled meat. The potatoes were blanched in some boiling water, then sliced into disks and put into the a large, really hot skillet. The trick is to oil the pan well and let the potatoes just sit, not unlike cooking hashbrowns for that nice crunchy exterior and buttery interior. The potatoes were then seasoned generously with salt, pepper, and chopped garlic. Once these were done, we took them out and tossed them with fresh cut tomatoes and some basil from our garden.

Meanwhile, the grill was looking very happy. The fat and juices from the lamb were flavoring the cheese, which was standing up nicely to the flames underneath. To serve with the lamb, I grabbed a one handful of flat-leaf parsley and one handful of mint, then pureed this with olive oil and a good squeeze of a big lemon.

The result was a really wonderful, fresh dinner. Lamb kebabs, when cooked just right (e.g., don't cut your cubes too small!), offer tender bites of meat bursting with juices that blend well with the milder taste of cheese. The parsley/mint puree added a tangy, refreshing note to the dish and brought out that familiar combination of lamb and mint, a combination tried and true to bring out the flavors of both meat and herb. The crunchy potatoes contributed more texture to the dish and the basil went really well with the rest of the herbs on the plate. Just proof that tried and true combinations (lamb and mint, basil and tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic and butter, lemon and olive oil) are always guaranteed to help satisfy any craving you might have!