My husband does most of the food shopping in our family, I give him a list of things to buy, and he’s happy to oblige.
He does an excellent job usually sticking to my list, but sometimes he gets extras.
I believe it’s the primal male hidden somewhere deep inside of him on a genetic level,
hunting the prey and triumphantly bringing the hide of a mammoth  to his cave to be divided among tribesmen.
How else can I explain that the “moon of my life”, my “sun and stars” brought home a big leg of lamb on a weeknight,
when no guests were expected and the refrigerator was well stocked.
First I thought that I’ll roast the lamb and be done with it, but that’s just too much of the same type of a meal for our family.
I decided to make an Uzbekistani plov from some (more on that in another post) and kebabs inspired by the recipe in “Ottolenghi” cookbook.
These wonderfully fragrant and earthy lamb kebobs are absolutely delicious. Easy and fast enough to be part of an everyday dinner, and tasty enough to be served at a special event. The grilled zucchini add a nice touch, and tomato basil sauce rounds up the flavors.

Ingredients
Kebabs

• 2 tbspns pine nuts
• 1-2 oz stale bread, crust removed
• 1 lbs ground lamb
• 1 1/2 tsn ground allspice
• 1tsn cinnamon
• 1/4 tsn ground nutmeg
• 1 clove garluc crushed
• 1 free range egg
• 4 tbsns parsley finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2oz feta cheese (optional, I omited the cheese from mine, and they came out deeelish!)
• Oil for frying( I used avocado oil), and brushing
• 2 medium zucchini

Sauce

• 2 tbsns olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 14 oz canned plum tomaroes chopped
• pinch red pepper flakes

hz

• 10 basil leaves

Directions
I suggest you make the sauce first.
Sauce

1. Place olive oil and garlic in a sauce pan an stir on medium low heat until garlic has softened.
2. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper flakes stir and cook for about 20-30 minutes until thickened. Adjust the seasonings, add chopped basil leaves and set aside.
   

Kebabs

1. Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet for about 5 minutes
   
2. Meanwhile soak bread in cold water, then drain and squeeze all the water out. Crumble the bread into a large bowl.
3. Add ground lamb, egg, garlic, spices, parsley. And mix everything very well together with your hands, make sure not to overmix.
4. Divide the mix into 10 -12 parts. Shape into sigars with your hands, about 4 inches long.(I made 4 big kebabs this time, because I didn’t have enough zucchini to wrap all the small kebabs)
   
5. Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet add the kebabs and sear them on all sides for about 3 -5 minutes. Remive from pan and set aside.
   
6. Now lets prepare the zucchini. Slice both ends od the zuccini, and cut long, thin slices down the length of the zucchini (you can use a mandoline for this if you have one.)
7. Brush the zucchini slices with a little olive oil on both sides, season with salt and pepper, and grill the slices on a grill pan or broil them until they get soft, but not mushy.
   
8. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
9. Wrap each kebab in a zucchini slice and place on a cookie sheet seam side down.
   
10. Bake for about 10 minutes.
11. Serve over the warm tomato sauce, with a side of couscous or rice

Enjoy!