Filed under Lamb + Veal
For the love of meat, Jake Dickson of Dickson Farmstand worked in several farms, a butcher shop and a slaughterhouse. All the effort paid off and he thought of a brilliant business plan: buy your upstate produce online and pick it up in the city from the back of his truck. I bought a boneless leg of lamb from Ehrhardt Farm in Jersey Hill, one of the highest elevations in Tompkins County, New York.
I also ordered a package of fatty bacon and ground pork but I’ll focus on the leg of lamb so that you can replicate it for your end-of-year dinner.
Ingredients:
1 4-pound boneless leg of lamb, tied up with butcher’s twine
salt, pepper
For marinade:
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
oil, pepper
1. Marinate lamb. Pat leg of lamb dry with a paper towel. On a chopping block as a work surface, drizzle olive oil all over the lamb and rub with pepper. Stuff every nook of leg of lamb with garlic and herbs. Transfer to a large glass container that you can use to marinate. Combine orange juice and white wine in a small bowl and pour into the container to marinate the lamb. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight. Make sure you turn over the lamb after several hours to soak the other side.
2. When ready to cook, remove the lamb from the fridge and let rest at room temperature. Arrange two racks in the oven: the middle rack to hold the lamb and the lower rack to hold a roasting pan to catch the drippings. (Spread chopped carrots, parsnips and onions in the pan for some roasted veggies to go with the lamb.) Preheat oven to 425º. Place the empty aluminum foil-lined roasting pan in the oven while the oven is pre-heating.
3. Cook the lamb. Remove the lamb from the container and pat dry with paper towels. Generously salt and pepper all sides of the lamb. Place directly on middle rack of the oven; the roasting pan below will catch the drippings. Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300º and roast an additional hour, or about 10 minutes per pound. Using a meat thermometer, the thickest part of the lamb must be around 135º for medium-rare. Let stand for half an hour before carving. Use just the drippingsand/or the roasted veggies to serve with the lamb.
Related post/s:
Order your leg of lamb from Ehrhardt Farm via Dickson’s Farmstand
My growing list of lamb and veal recipes
Lefover lamb can turn into a delicious salad
Filed under Soups, Stocks + Sauces
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring,…
Are you kidding me? Whoever the author was wasn’t in my parents’ house on Christmas Eve. It’s definitely not quiet in ours right now: my mother is vacuuming, my father is moving stuff around and I’m simultaneously getting the leg of lamb and pork roast ready for our noche buena, clanging around the kitchen.
I’m not a regular churchgoer, but you can count on me to attend Christmas Eve mass even if it’s cold outside and boring inside. Because it’s also the eve of my birthday, I’ve always found mass quite comforting before I turn a year older. Wherever I am, I make it a point to attend mass for my birthday. After mass, we dive in for dinner and eat until a little after midnight–Christmas Day itself is just recovering from the night before.
This pasta e fagioli recipe, or “pasta and beans” in Italian, is a hearty (and affordable!) filler to keep the hunger pangs away at least until after church, but not too heavy that you would want to skip the main attraction on the dining table. I used Goya pinto beans here because one package was on sale for 99 cents and substituted the Parmesan cheese for Manchego.
Ingredients:
1 cup pinto beans, soaked overnight in water
2 cups mini penne pasta
4 slices bacon, chopped
3 large beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sprig of rosemary
2 sprigs of thyme
Manchego cheese
salt, pepper
1. Drain the water from the soaking beans. In a large saucepan, add 3 cups of water and bring the beans to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for an hour, or until tender. When done, transfer beans and water to a large container and set aside.
2. Using the same saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Add the garlic and sauté until light brown. Add the onions and sauté until translucent. Add the herbs, carrots, celery and tomatoes and stir to combine. Cook until carrots are tender.
3. Return the beans and the water to the saucepan and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add more water if you want more soup. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Add the macaroni and simmer for another 10 minutes, or just enough to cook the pasta. Stir occasionally. Ladle into bowls and grate cheese on top before serving.
Related post/s:
The Italians know how to make peasant dishes, I tell you
A mainstay soup in our household
You say fa-zool, they say fa-joh-lee
