Leg of Lamb

I've been looking for an excuse to cook a leg of lamb, but that's a lot of meat for two people, so I needed to wait for a group dinner to prepare one. I decided to cook one (the smallest leg that I could find) just recently when Ann invited Andreas and Michelle over for dinner, along with mutual friend Erika. 

Michelle, Ann, Erika, and Andreas

It Would Be Rude to Start Without Sparkling Wine
Crémant d'Alsace

It's Almost Thanksgiving!

Ann and I started coming up with ideas for a menu based around leg of lamb a few days beforehand. When I learned that Erika is a vegetarian, I wanted to make a side for the lamb that would stand in as a great vegetarian entrée. Given that I was thinking about a classic Italian marinade for the lamb, why not continue with the Italian theme, such as cannellini in the style of pasta fagioli? That's some classic, home-style comfort food and perfect for a cold, pre-Thanksgiving evening.

Ann wanted to make an appetizer too but we never did settle on anything. I thought I might make some small risotto cakes, but I heard her mention something about stuffed dates in her musings. And so I resolved that if I could find them at the store, I would bring them to her. Luckily, our store has a great selection of bulk foods including dates, so I bought some and a bit of sliced prosciutto. Below you see a photo of Ann's handywork, pitted dates stuffed with goat cheese, some wrapped in prosciutto and some not, roasted in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Back to the leg of lamb. I wanted to roast a leg of lamb in part because I love it, in part because it is something that I cannot serve to every crowd (Dyce, I'm looking at you!), and in part because of the last two dinners with Michelle and Andreas. For those two dinners, Andreas wanted to see cooking in action for the first and for the second, I made a paella, which is pretty much the textbook à la minute dish, a dish that must be cooked actively just before serving.

What I really wanted was a menu that involved very little last minute cooking and that would let me socialize. I am no longer the chef who stays in the kitchen while the guests socialize and dine. When we invite people to our house, I would rather spend my time with them rather than in the kitchen, a 180-degree departure from my former life as a chef.

The leg of lamb I could butterfly (remove the bone and open up flat like a book) the day before and then marinate by placing it in a plastic bag with a mix of red wine, olive oil, and black pepper, with lots of both garlic and rosemary added for flavor. Then on the night of the dinner, all I would need to do would be to put it on a sheet tray in a hot oven until it reached 125F internal temperature, about 20-25 minutes. After it rested for 20 minutes, then I would slice it, a simple thing that would not take me away from guests. Moreover, I would precook the beans in the afternoon and then while the lamb was resting on the stove top, I could put the beans into the oven to reheat.

Roasted, Butterflied Leg of Lamb

The cannellini beans could not be simpler to make and are exactly what I make for pasta fagioli except they have no pancetta (to remain vegetarian) and no pasta (so to remain gluten-free). I started with a soffritto of leeks, carrots, and celery that I sweated in olive oil in an oven-proof pan with a lot of garlic and fresh rosemary. Once the vegetables were soft, I added a couple tablespoons of doppio concentrato tomato paste to a bare spot in the middle of the pan. After the tomato paste caramelized a bit, I deglazed with a slug of white wine, scraping all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.

Next I added a bit of dried basil and a bunch of stemmed and sliced cavolo nero (Tuscan black kale, easily my favorite kale) along with a bit of water and about five pounds of pre-cooked beans. I let everything simmer for about twenty minutes to bring all the flavors together. Just as the lamb was coming out of the oven, I put a low flame under the beans and drizzled them with great Tuscan olive oil and freshly grated pecorino romano. Into the hot oven they went while the lamb was resting to get warm and delicious.

Cannellini in the Style of Pasta Fagioli

Erika Brought Beautiful Flowers

Do you know the best thing about leftover leg of lamb? It slices beautifully and makes the best sandwiches, such as the open-face cheesesteaks below. To make them, I sliced the lamb thinly, sliced and wilted an onion, and sliced a block of Tallegio cheese. The bread, I drizzled with olive oil and browned under the broiler and then topped with lamb, onions, and cheese. Into a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes they went to melt the cheese and warm the cold lamb through. Delicious and a great reason to roast a butterflied leg of lamb.

Open-Face Cheesesteak: Lamb, Onions, and Tallegio

Friends for Dinner

We're finally settling in to the point where we can start entertaining again. So, Annie invited Valerie and Michael over to dinner. Michael's our insurance agent and Valerie and Ann had connected via a women's group to which they both belong. Long story short, Ann invited them over and let me run with a menu, mostly. She wanted to reprise the mushroom crostini that we had at New Year's Eve and I decided to keep dinner itself very simple: focaccia, an arugula salad, and porchetta. And a little plate to accompany a bottle of Port for dessert.

Thanks to Valerie for taking some of the photos below and giving me permission to use them here. Go have a look at her blog, V. Estelle Travel. It was so awesome to have someone else take pictures for once, but it looks like we both forgot to take people shots and bottle shots! Oh well, you'll have to trust us that a good time happened!

Chanterelle, Shiitake, Leek, and Taleggio Crostini

I couldn't find dried porcini to make the crostini, so I went with fresh chanterelles, which given all the rain we have had, were in really good shape. We had a bottle of Prosecco with the crostini.

Grinding Pork Trimmings for Sausage

I'm still looking for a good supplier of pork. Alas, the best I have found so far is from Carlton Farms out where we used to live in Yamhill, but it is definitely not the Berkshire and Ossabaw x Berkshire I was used to working with in Virginia.

"Porchetta" Ready for the Oven

I would really have preferred to make my porchetta with a suckling pig or a side of pork belly, but that would have been overkill for a dinner for four. So I faked it by butterflying a top loin and stuffing with a fennel sausage that I ground from rib and belly trimmings.

Slicing the Porchetta

Focaccia and Barbaresco

Focaccia has got to be the world's simplest bread to make. I started it first thing in the morning with a very tiny amount of yeast and cold water and let it rise all day. The first rise took about seven hours. We served Barbaresco with dinner and Michael and Valerie brought a wonderfully rustic Chianti Classico that we had as a second bottle.

Annie Making the Salad Dressing

Arugula with Clementines, Red Onion, Pine Nuts, and Ricotta Salata

Valerie's Plate with Salsa Verde on the Porchetta

I love a sharp salsa verde with pork to help offset the fat. This was parsley, anchovy, garlic, capers, red wine vinegar, and olive oil, all chopped together by hand for texture.

Blue Cheese, Candied Hazelnuts, Dates, Pinot Noir Syrup

For dessert, I had a bottle of Port that I helped blend at the winery and so I threw together a really simple port plate of Gorgonzola-like local blue cheese, local hazelnuts that I candied earlier in the afternoon, a pitted Medjool date, crostini from my focaccia, and a red wine syrup that I made from over-the-hill remnants of Pinot Noir from the tasting room.

This was the first time, other than Thanksgiving, that I have really cooked a nice meal start to finish since I left the restaurant back in August. It felt really good to get back in the saddle again and I really enjoyed getting head down in the kitchen again to knock out all the components of this dinner. It's not like the restaurant where we would have premade batches of salsa verde, salad dressing, candied nuts, crostini, or red wine syrup ready to hand. In that sense, it was an awful lot of fun to create a dinner totally from scratch. And an awful lot of fun to share it with Michael and Valerie.

Tapas and Paella with Don and Terry

Wow! Wow! Wow!

That's all I have to say after visiting friends Donald and Terry on Sunday: "Wow!"


Ann and Donald with a bottle of Glen Manor Hodder Hill 2009, the wine that just won the Governor's Cup as the best wine in the state. Damn good it is too!

Carter and his mother in one of Carter's calmer moments, a rarity these days.

Check out the tapas spread the guys had awaiting us!


White bread cut-outs with olive oil, cheese, and smoked salt—addictive!

Asparagus frittata. It's pretty cool how the asparagus float in the eggs and separate themselves.

Dates stuffed with Manchego and walnuts.

Olives, walnuts in hickory salt, and Marcona almonds. The olives were my favorite. I can live on olives.

Mushrooms stuffed with corn, chorizo, and cream cheese. Yum!


We started our tapas with the 2009 Amalie Robert Pinot Meunier that I brought and what a neat wine this is! Intense fruit and excellent acidity in such a light-bodied wine. I am not sure that I could tell this from Pinot Noir if tasting blind. And then Terry surprised us by opening a bottle of 2010 Borsao Garnacha "Tres Picos." I know Borsao from the restaurant where we have carried their wines at times over the years. Still I was not prepared for this full-on modern-style prestige Garnacha with its huge fruit and lavish oak regimen. A fun wine for drinking with friends!


After many tapas, much wine, and a lot of catching up, we got around to dinner itself, starting with a fantastic salad of arugula, marinated melon, jamón serrano, and curls of Manchego.

The pièce de résistance was the paella and what cojones Terry has to attempt his first paella ever with a chef in the house! Here is the fabulous concoction both before and after cooking. It was notable for me because Terry used Valencia rice, which I have never had before. I make my paella at the restaurant from either Bomba or Arborio depending on what I have on hand. The tiny little Valencia grains were fantastic.



The guys would never let us leave without an overload of dessert, including a membrillo and pine nut tart, chocolate dipped apricots, strawberries, and grapes.


Just look at this tart! It was as delicious as it looks good.


Naturally, one must have a piece of chocolate for that last swallow of red wine.

And finally, I had to finish with this shot of the grapes just because I like it so much. I guess if you click the shutter long enough, you're bound to take a good photo every once in a while.

Valentine's Dinner

Like Thanksgiving, Valentine's is a big deal to Ann. Because I am in the restaurant business, we can never celebrate Valentine's Day together, so Ann has taken to hosting Valentine's dinners at our house on the Sunday before Valentine's Day.

Here is the table that Ann set, all festive in red, black, and silver, complete with gift boxes of chocolate dipped pretzels that she made for everyone.

We had a great time this year with friends Kelley and Marco Due who joined us for cocktails and then had to run, Mike and Dennis, and Jen and Dewi. Unfortunately, I failed to get photos of Kelley and Mark. Here are the rest of the characters. Mike, thanks for the photo of us!

I Like the Shot of Dennis Through Ann's Glass

Ann is not one for starting a party without a cocktail, so I reprised the grapefruity St. Germain cocktail that I invented some weeks ago. Naturally, the glasses are rimmed with red, white, and pink sprinkles! This gave me an excuse to get out the big Mexican citrus juicer. I am not a fan of single purpose cookware, but when you have to juice a lot of citrus, these guys are indispensable.

We started with three hors d'oeuvres—the plan was only two, but I brought home from the restaurant a surprise terrine that was begging to be tasted. For the first appetizer, Ann stuffed dates with goat cheese, sprinkled them with toasted panko, and warmed them in a moderate oven for about 10 minutes. These guys are deliciously and decadently rich!

Next up, I made crab-stuffed, prosciutto-wrapped shrimp. I meant to make a dipping sauce too, but that seemed to get lost in the shuffle. I butterflied the shrimp, packed a little crab into them (a dozen 16-20 shrimps took about 6 ounces of crab meat) and wrapped them in prosciutto. I broiled them 8 inches from the broiler element for about 10 minutes.

Crab-stuffed, Prosciutto-wrapped Shrimp

For the main course, we had a cassoulet made not from the traditional Tarbais beans, but from an American heirloom bean called the Steuben Yellow Eye which is famous for holding its shape while becoming deliciously creamy inside. Besides a lot of mirepoix, garlic, and fresh herbs, the other garnishes were duck confit that we put up in early January in anticipation of this cassoulet, local bacon ends, guanciale, and Surry sausage.

The guanciale (Berkshire Jowciale) and Surry sausage both come from Edwards Hams in Surry, VA, a company whose products I have eaten all my life and long-time supplier to the restaurant. We moistened the cassoulet with a stock made from the goodness that accumulates in the bottom of the roasting pans when we cook our pork belly.

 

Cassoulet

Dewi brought along a Clos la Coutale Cahors 2008, the traditional Malbec wine from Southwest France that often accompanies cassoulet. We kicked in a SonVida Argentinean Malbec 2008, a very modern style wine. I expect Cahors to be a big, dark, brooding wine, but this one was not. It was educational to taste the lighter, more traditional, and more rustic French import from Kermit Lynch against the juicy, darker, sleeker, and more modern Argentine offering. But great minds think alike: cassoulet = Malbec.

 
And what better to accompany a cassoulet than a mixed green salad and wonderful rosemary bread?

Finally, dessert queen Jen brought a bittersweet chocolate pie topped with crème fraîche. We opened a bottle of Warre's 1977 Port to go along with this. A fruitier wine would have done the chocolate more justice, but we needed a slim excuse to open the '77!

Kudos to Ann for orchestrating yet another fabulous dinner!