Lamb with Rice and Chickpeas

It won’t surprise anyone who’s met me to find that I like to talk to strangers. I meet all sorts of nice and interesting people that way, and I often find that it is indeed a very small world.  While I was hobbling around the fruit market last week (first day off crutches post-injury), I struck up a conversation with the woman standing next to me at the meat counter, who wanted to know what I was doing with the ground lamb. It turns out that she knows my boss, and we ended up at the same craft fair about 20 minutes after our conversation, so I’m especially sad that I can’t remember her name. She’s recently gluten-free and we talked for a bit about the challenges of finding good recipes that are both gluten-free and appealing to picky eaters (I don’t have any myself, but I understand it can be a challenge).

So – nice lady at Western Market – here’s the recipe for lamb with rice and chickpeas, which is one of our fastest, easiest, tastiest weeknight dinners. As long as you have rice cooked in advance, this comes together ridiculously fast; plus it keeps well in the fridge and tastes good at any temperature.

Rooz Ma Lahem (Lamb with Rice and Chickpeas)

5 cups cooked rice

1/2 lb ground lamb

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon salt (that’s not a typo)

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon allspice

1/3 teaspoon cinnamon

In a pot, combine the meat, onions, garlic, and spices. Cook until the meat is browned, stirring to break the meat up into small pieces. Add the chickpeas.

Drain any extra meat from the pan (I usually just blot it with a paper towel), add the rice, and stir to mix.