Tomorrow I’m going to pick up half a lamb, so I thought I’d put up something about some other lamb from about a week ago. Tonight, coincidentally, we’re going to dinner with the people with whom we split the lamb, and I may bring the camera so that future generations can reverently study our dinners. This weekend I have some plans for a pretty special meal, but until then this should tide you over.
I took a rack of beautiful local lamb and rubbed it all over with salt, pepper, and rosemary, then browned it hard all over, covering the pan and taking it off the heat to finish cooking after a few minutes of high heat. I had the pressure cooker going with beets, carrots, olives, garlic, onion, leks, fennel, and some lamb-loving spices. Once everything was soft I blended it all smooth and added some vinegar and fish sauce. I whisked up a pot of polenta, adding some basil pesto from the freezer towards the end. And I quickly wilted some spinach.
The star of this was the meat, of course, but the supporting cast did what they needed to to add textural contrast and meat-flattering flavor (especially the vegetable purée). I thought I made a pan sauce, but I don’t see it in the pictures. If I had, I would have swirled some wine, butter, and mustard around in the lamby pan and drooled it all over the meat.
I’m exhausted from another couple hours of heavy gardening on a day of epic perfection. The weekend looks to be glorious, too. Enjoy!
mmmmmmm! Got to do my dishes today, so I can confront destroying my kitchen all over again for dinner tonight. Making rosemary garlic lamb pops with a little tiny rack of lamb that’s been eying me in my fridge for a while. At the farmer’s market today I snagged some pea tendrils, a bunch of little red scallions and some baby carrots (and a whole lot of other tasty stuff). I think I’ll saute the scallions and then throw in the tendrils to gently wilt and roast the carrots along with some gorgeous potatoes I almost forgot about…mmmmm…all super easy stuff for me!
I dream about the day when monkey #2 is older and I can start cooking more complex stuff, like you do!!
@Mo, Peter has fed his little boy like this ever since he was tiny – go ahead and make your complex dishes – your kids will love them!
Oh my kids eat all the yummy stuff I make, well the littler one does, the 3.5 year old has suddenly gotten picky, but I have a hard time cooking when they are fighting and the little one is whining and picking through the trash, drawing on the walls, pulling all the books off the shelves, etc, etc. He keeps me on my toes, even worst than the first one! I just can’t wait till they get older and I have the time to make more complicated foods!
@Mo, aha! I see your dilemma. May I suggest that duct tape makes humane restraints? 😀 Just kidding!
@Zoomie
hahaha-they will get older and it’ll get easier (but don’t think the duct tape hasn’t crossed my mind!) I used to whine about how hard it was to cook with just the one, somehow I cook more now that I have two.