It’s winter, and I feel like I should be cooking fatty, meaty foods that will insulate me from the cold. I fantasize about making meaty, heavy stews. Unfortunately, vegan-happy Weshop does not wish to help me realize my high-cholesterol dreams. In general, it’s not a great place for carnivores.

Sure, Weshop has sausage and bacon, but they don’t present enough of a culinary challenge. The meat section primarily consists of boneless and skinless chicken breasts—certainly the most boring and unfortunately ubiquitous meat on the market. Why would you bother to kill a chicken just to get that?

Thus, I was very disappointed with the meat selection at Weshop until I made an amazing discovery—they have lamb!

Hidden in the freezer section next to the ice cream, Weshop carries ground lamb and stew meat. Lamb does not come cheap—it’s nearly 16 points for one pound of meat. On the other hand, it’s very good meat: no hormones, and the sheep are vegetarian fed. Since one pound of ground lamb can feed three people with generous portions, it’s actually a pretty good deal for a nice weekend dinner, especially since specials at WesWings are 13 points anyway.

For those of you who would be interested in buying some lamb but have absolutely no idea what to do with it, here is a delicious and easy recipe from Epicurious for Greek lamb burgers that I used last week (www.epicurious.com):

Ingredients:

1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/3 pounds ground lamb
4 hamburger buns or small ciabatta rolls
1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
1 1/3 cups crumbled feta cheese
4 1/4-inch-thick red onion slices
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Mix the first four ingredients and 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil in medium bowl, then mix in lamb. Shape into four 3/4-inch-thick patties. Cook patties in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, four minutes per side, if you want the lamb cooked medium. Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Then broil buns until golden, about two minutes. Top each bun bottom with burger. Toss spinach, feta, onion, vinegar, and another 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in bowl. Place salad atop burgers. Cover with bun tops, pressing firmly to compact.

All of these ingredients can be found at Weshop, except for fresh mint—instead, cut open a mint or peppermint tea bag and use the herbs inside, but only a quarter to a third of the amount you would use if it were fresh mint. I would also recommend upping the amounts of paprika and cinnamon, or maybe even adding some cumin, but that of course depends on your personal preference.

Thank you, Weshop. You have redeemed yourself.