Lamb Rosettes - Spice Revelation

After having been on this quest for some time now, it's with a bit of sadness that I can now announce that I have completed all lamb cuts for the Year of Meat.  Now, I will not profess that there was any thought that went into "saving the best for last".  In fact, I'm pretty confident that my favorites for the year have already been cooked.  But with Lamb Rosettes as the only remaining Lamb cut, I did not expect to produce the best lamb dish of the year, let alone one in which I followed no recipes.  But so goes the Year of Meat.

So first off, I had to find out, what are lamb rosettes?  Little morsels of deliciousness is the appropriate answer.  However, more specifically, rosettes are thin cut strips of lamb flank steak rolled into small chunks and skewered for marinating and grilling.  Unlike many lamb cuts where fat needs to be managed, rosettes are extremely lean, cook fast and are great for high temp grilling.  So, that's what I did.  Many years ago, I got introduced to an online spice ordering company called Penzey's Spices.  And I went through a cooking faze where curries were the craze.  I bought a 6-pack of Indian spice mixes that included Tandoori, Vindaloo, Garam Masala and a few others.  Two of the most used from that pack (and which have been finished, replaced and finished again) were Hot Curry and Sweet Curry.  Yeah, it's safe to say that I wasn't venturing out of a comfort zone I formed.  Well, in looking at the 6th one from that 6-pack, a spice combination called Sate, I saw that it went well with lamb.  Boom.  I took a few tablespoons, some Kosher salt and mixed it with olive oil into a thick marinade (or a watery paste).  Insert the rosette skewers into a ziploc, add the marinade and let the day run its course.

About 8 hour later, I took the rosettes out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature.  And I fired up the Big Green Egg for high heat grilling.  Had some low maintenance sides, i.e. white rice and corn on the cob.  Crispy charring on the outside.  Medium Rare + grilling on the inside.  Indian spices in every bite.  Done and done!  Best lamb of the year, for my money.  Sure, the shanks were delicious, as was the Rack of Lamb (yum I do want to do that again, too).  But these guys were simple, flavorful, required no work (no bones, no fat) and low maintenance.  Can't get better than that.

54 down, 7 to go!