Mmmm... lamb.

[madbaker]

Lamb Merguez Sausage

2 cups chopped onions
2.5 lbs ground lamb
1/4 cup chopped parsley
8 or so cloves garlic, crushed
2 T paprika
2 T salt
2 T olive oil
2 T chopped mint
1 T tomato paste
1 T lemon juice
2 t fennel seeds, ground
1 T cumin
2 t black pepper
1 t sugar
1/2 t allspice
1 t chili powder (the original called for cayenne, but I don't keep that)

Mix meat and onions, then rest. Blend thoroughly with your hands. Yes, it's a mess. It won't blend any other way. Let flavors blend for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Stuff into casings and tie off at 6" links, or make patties if you're too much of a wuss to deal with intestines.

Comments: that last bit was my addition. Yum! Not spicy enough for me - I remember merguez as being pretty hot, but maybe that's just the harissa we always slathered on it...

I chopped the onions finely, but they were still a pain to deal with in the sausage funnel. I'll use the food processor next time. The ground lamb was from our local German deli and sausage place; it had a nice fat content and I didn't need to add any beef fat. They actually sweated out quite a bit when I cooked them.

The wife thought this was a bit salty, but grilling them (rather than pan-frying) would help that. They went very well with flatbread, yogurt, cucumber and dill.

Comments

[loup_noir]

I wanna come eat at your house. That sounds incredible. Love, love, love lamb, and Morroccan lamb sounds even better.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

So try it! It's not difficult to do.
(But if you're ever coming to SF, you're welcome to visit!)

Lame question from the peanut gallery....

[strmonkey.livejournal.com]

What do you use to stuff your casings. I have thought about getting the attachment for our Kitchen Aid aka Tontetta (the female version of Tonto). What's your opinion of proper equipment for doing this? I know Tarik would love to be able to have a sausage stuffing party but we would need to practice first!

Re: Lame question from the peanut gallery....

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I use a funnel that I picked up at Sur La Table. I stuff by hand because the mechanized ones can exert too much force, causing the casings to break. Of course the downside to that is that it takes longer and if you aren't used to making sausages, handmade ones are going to be more irregular.

I haven't tried the KitchenAid attachment, though. They also make a grain mill attachment!