Lard/Schmalz Spread with Apple and Onion

[fitfool]

Having cooked up Spicy Cumin Lamb Shoulder Chops yet again, I looked at all the grease left in the pan. On the cutting board stood a few more big pieces of fat I had trimmed from the chops before cooking them. I'm not sure why there's so much fat in lamb but it seems to be the fattiest of the meats I regularly cook up. Maybe it's because fat is where the flavor is and lamb is flavorful. In any case, I wondered if there were some way to use this fat. It seemed a shame to let it all go to waste. Luckily, the internet came through for me and I found this decadent recipe for Apfel-Griebenschmalz (apple greaves dripping). The main ingredient is fat so skip this one if you're trying to limit your fat intake. I love this spread over a piece of hot toast. The original recipe used pork fat and an apple. Next time, I think I might try other fruits with the fat...maybe peaches? My boyfriend doesn't like it when it's cold because then you can see the fat and picture it clogging your arteries. But when it melts a bit from the hot toast, the bread soaks up the fat drippings and it's not so visible. In any case, I think this is delicious and enjoy this occasional treat whenever we have enough fat on hand.







Lard/Schmalz Spread with Apple and Onion

excess lamb or pork fat (or chicken fat or bacon fat..)
half of a Granny Smith apple
1 small onion
salt and pepper

1. If you have any raw fat, dice it up into small pieces and set that into your pan with the leftover fat from your earlier cooking. Put the heat on medium-low and allow more of the fat to liquefy.
   
   
   
   
2. While the fat is rendering, dice up a small onion and thinly slice half of a peeled, cored apple.
   
   
   
   
3. When the fat seems to be done rendering, pick out the small leftover pieces and set those aside. I like to munch of these small crunchy bits.
   
   
4. Fry up the onions and apples in the rendered fat for about 10 minutes until they're somewhat darker and soft. Add some salt and pepper and stir. By this point, there wasn't much fat left in the pan really.
   
   
5. Scoop everything into a glass jar and store in the fridge.
   
   
   
   
6. Smear some onto a slice of hot toast whenever you want a nice snack. The spread might be a little stiff and hard to spread straight out of the fridge. I like sprinkling on a little more salt and pepper just before eating. Delicious!
   

Original Recipe:
http://www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2007/06/14/down-the-memory-lane-with-pork-fat/