Smoked Leg of Lamb with Brussels Sprout and Kale Salad

Easter was this past weekend and for the first time in many years, the boy was able to be with us.  He drove down early Sunday morning and brought the grandpups.  We went to church and came home for a big Easter dinner.  We had a good visit before they returned home.


When talking about Easter weekend a few weeks back, the good wife stated that she'd like to have lamb.  I had picked up a boneless leg of lamb on sale a while back so I just had to pull it from the freezer.  Normally, when I do lamb I leave the boneless leg open and grill it though I have been known to put some mint leaves and feta cheese on it and roll it back up to grill.  Grilling like this is fairly quick and yields good results but I wanted to smoke it.


I prepped the lamb after breakfast before I got dressed for church.  I cut off the netting and opened the leg and did a bit of trimming.  This meant cutting out some large chunks of fat and trimming some silver skin off one of the muscles.  After it was trimmed to my satisfaction, I poured olive oil on it and rubbed it all over then seasoned it with Uncle T's spice mix #2.  I then rolled it up tightly and tied it in place.  Once it was tied I repeated the oiling and seasoning.  The lamb ended up resting with seasoning blend on for about 3 hours before going into the smoker.

Boneless Leg of Lamb Fresh From the Smoker

Smoking the lamb was done in the Weber kettle grill rather than the Weber smoker because it was raining and it was easier to set up the grill for indirect cooking/smoking and to manage it than getting the smoker up and running would be.  The lamb was smoked with a combination of rosemary branches and cherry wood.  I pulled it when it reached 125F internal and let carry over finish it while the rest of the meal was completed.  You can't beat medium rare lamb.

Smoked Leg of Lamb

I also made a variant of the Brussels sprout salad I'd made on the good wife's birthday.  For this salad I used kale from the garden and store bought Brussels sprouts.  Everything else was the same.  Texture wise it was a bit chewier thanks to the kale.  There was also just a slightly noticeable difference between using store bought Brussels sprouts versus fresh from the garden.  It was still an excellent salad though.

Brussels Sprout and Kale Salad

The good wife also wanted asparagus with the meal so naturally I made it happen.  The asparagus was cut into pieces, about 2 inches, then put in the skillet used to cook the bacon for the salad.  There was only about 1 Tbs of bacon grease plus the brown bits from frying the bacon.  Once the asparagus was cooked I sprinkled on some grated parmesan cheese and tossed it.  Once the parmesan browned a bit some more was sprinkled on top and it was removed from the heat.

My Plate

We also had parmesan roasted potatoes and the good wife made deviled eggs and a plate of pickled okra and pickled beets.   Both the okra and beets came from our garden and the good wife canned them.  I didn't think to take pictures until most of the eggs were gone so I failed to document the good wife's handiwork.


For some reason, most Americans seem resistant to trying lamb.  If you are one of those people, I urge you to give it a try.  You can find boneless leg of lamb at many stores at prices comparable to beef prices.  Just remove most of the fat since lamb fat doesn't get melty and tasty like beef or pork fat.  Lamb fat also has a high melting point so it will get hard and coat your mouth at a temperature at which beef or pork would still be soft and flavorful.  So, trim the fat then season the lamb and smoke it.  I'm sure you'll be pleased with the taste.


I hope you'll give lamb a try along with these other dishes.  It's spring so asparagus is cheap again, get some and enjoy.  If you try the lamb or the salad, let me know what you think.  Remember, have fun in the kitchen.


Uncle T

Pressure Cooker Sausage and Kale Soup

Have I mentioned that I really like my electric pressure cooker?  While there are some things that a long slow cook is to be preferred, some meals are just as good when using this quick method.  Dried beans come to mind as something that is just as good when pressure cooked.  Soups turn out very well also.  To that end, I've been thinking about soups to try in the pressure cooker.

Sausage and Kale Soup ready to serve

I was searching soups recipes and came across a list of soups that had pasta and one of them was sausage and kale.  The picture looked good so I started looking at sausage and kale soup recipes.  Seems most of them call for potatoes rather than pasta but I wanted to include pasta.  That was as much for the pasta as it was the chance to cook pasta in the pressure cooker.  Another change from other recipes was the use of dried beans instead of opening a can or two.  I also noticed that most recipes called for sweet Italian sausage and the rest for some sort of smoked sausage.  I used some of my home made hot Italian sausage.


The soup was cooked in two sessions with the two sessions totaling only 25 minutes.  Making the meat balls was the longest bit of prep work for this meal.  I used my small portion scoop, a #70 scoop,  to make the meat balls a consistent size.  After the meat balls were made they were lightly browned using the sear function on the pressure cooker.  Nothing like only having one pot to clean up after supper.


 Sausage and Kale Soup (Changes listed after the instructions)


1 lb hot Italian sausage
8 oz Rigatoni
1.5 cups dried great northern beans
4 - 6 cups chopped Kale, stems removed
2 quarts chicken broth
2 Tbs Italian seasoning
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt


Make meat balls out of the sausage, approximately 1/2 oz each.  Lightly brown in the pressure cooker.  Pour in the chicken broth, dried beans, and pasta.  Add the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and stir to mix.  Put the lid on, making sure the valve is set to pressure cook, and set timer for 15 minutes.  After timer goes off, release the steam.  Add the kale to the cooker and stir to fully incorporate.  Put lid back on and pressure cook for another 10 minutes.  When done, manually release steam again and serve.

A bowl full of goodness

Changes I'll make next time I make this include upping the amount of chicken broth to 3 quarts, waiting to put in the pasta, and just letting the hot soup wilt the kale rather than pressure cooking it.  It needs more chicken broth because I underestimated how much would be soaked up by the beans and pasta as they cooked.  I would do the meat, broth, and beans for 15 minutes, then add the pasta for the final 10 minutes.


Doing the dried beans this way yielded beans that were fully cooked but were still firm.  For something like this you don't want them cooked to mush like you would if you were just cooking a pot of white beans to eat with sausage and cornbread.


If you have the time to make it, some fresh hot crusty bread would go good with this soup.  It is not necessary though.