How to Grill a Leg of Lamb

I love grilled lamb. It reminds me of old greek literature when they always said they took the lamb and 'roasted it to a turn'. I think of Odysseus and his companions eating Polyphemus sheep... Anyway, something about grilled leg of lamb is so old-worldish, and when the spring comes, there's just nothing better than building a big ole fire outside and grilling a huge piece of meat on it, to sit down with friends around the table and share.

You will need one leg of lamb, butterflied (that means they took the bones out). If you ask the butcher specially, he may be able to butterfly one for you which might work out well because for grilling you want uniform thickness, but pre-butterflied leg of lamb is not necessarily uniform thickness. Anyway, if you have a crowd that wants various degrees of done ness, then variable thickness is okay.

Marinate the lamb with a mixture of:

apple juice concentrate
apple cider vinegar
minced mint
minced rosemary
ground cardamom
ground allspice
ground cloves (you will need a mortar and pestle for this job...)
dijon mustard (the french kind)
brown mustard (I used Cleveland ballpark mustard in honor of Ohio Boy)
cayenne pepper (that's the secret ingredient so don't say I'm holding out on you!)

Let it sit overnight. Flip it in the morning, and try not to eat any because it will smell ridiculously good.

Prepare a hot fire. Grill the lamb until it reaches internal temperature of 130. No matter what the peanut gallery tells you, believe your thermometer, or you will have to put it back on the grill later. Whatever you do, don't put your drink down.

To go with it, mashed sweet potatoes. They have to be cut 1/2" thick to go on the grill. Too thin and they will fall apart. Too thick and they will not cook through. Coat them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Throw them on the grill around the lamb. Turn them after a few minutes when they have nice grill marks on the back. Cook until done. Which is to say when they taste good, they're done. Take them off and mash them in a bowl. Add some cream. You don't need any butter because you should have used a significant amount of olive oil to coat them and you should use the leftovers for basting and adding to the mash. Then add salt & pepper, and the secret ingredient here is balsamic vinegar I know it sounds crazy but the tanginess of the balsamic really contrasts well with the sweetness of the potatoes, and since you grilled them the whole thing takes on this smoky flavor which is just great. Gosh I am making myself hungry. Anyway, mash them with a masher, then put them on the kitchenaid, and whip them until they are totally smooth and fluffy. You can wait to add the cream and balsamic until they are on the kitchenaid. Be sure they taste good, then serve them up with the lamb.

Buon Appetito!

The Cardinal Grilling Virtue

In grilling, the cardinal virtue is never put your drink down when you grill. Not all grillers can stand up to this rigorous requirement, but only a select few are able to manage...

It's important to have a very hot fire for grilling! But it's very hard to make such a hot fire without putting your drink down!

Last night's guest appearance by Matt Collette showcased his exemplary ability to excel at the cardinal griller virtue...

As you can see in this picture, Luke Shingledecker - grillmaster extraordinaire - demonstrates his carefully cultivated technique of flipping sweet potatoes without setting his drink down. J Bergquist, on the other hand, has fallen down on the job and not only is he not holding his drink - but it's not even in the picture! The Horror! The Horror!

The only instance when it becomes acceptable to set a drink down while grilling is in cases where it is empty. Then you may set it down...

March 12, 2006 - Tapas Dinner at the Finkelsteiner's
Luke and Susan's recipes

Grilled Asparagus with Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce
1 Roasted Red pepper, peeled and chopped *
1 Slice of toasted bread (crusty bread)
10 or so blanched and toasted almonds (buy them blanched, toast them in a frying pan)
Garlic - 5 or 6 cloves, who cares? You can't have too much....
1 Whole tomato, peeled and seeded *
1/3 cup olive oil

Combine the bread and almonds in a food processor. Then and salt and pepper to taste (lots), garlic, tomato, and roasted pepper. Process until very fine. Add the olive oil with motor running (slowly). If it seems to thick, add a little warm water.

Roasted red peppers - I cover them in cheap olive oil, salt and pepper, and throw in the oven at 400 degrees, or on the grill. Roast them for 20-25 minutes, turning every few minutes. They should be blistered all over, and soft, but not close to falling apart. Throw them in a plastic bag for 10 minutes, until they're cool. Take them out and carefully peel them. Fantastic heat tolerance on your fingertips helps. Get rid of the seeds. I like to use a paring knife (small) to scrape the seeds out, use a cutting board with a trench to keep things clean.

Peeled tomatoes - I've had never done this before, so I thought some of you might not know how. Thanks to Joy of Cooking for an excellent technique.
Prepare a small pot of boiling water, and a bowl of ice water on the side. Cut a small x in the root end of the tomato. Carefully drop the tomato in the water and let sit in there for about a minute, more if not ripe. Take it out carefully (you should probably strain it out to avoid damaging the tomato), and put the tomato in the ice water. Pull it out, and its really easy to peel the tomato.

Grilled Asparagus - This is a great time of the year to eat asparagus!!!!
Grab your bunch of asparagus and cut off the dry ends. There's a trick to this - snap one off by hand, then cut the rest of the bunch at the same place the first one snapped off.
Drench them in moderate quality olive oil, cover in salt and pepper. If you can get an olive oil that tastes "woody", use that. Goya is good for this.
Get the grill medium-hot, not TOO hot. Put some vegetable oil on a paper towel and wipe the grates after the grill has gotten warm. Put the asparagus on the grill, across the grates. If your grates are far apart, don't bother with the thin asparagus or you'll lose lots of them. Either way, be careful not to get them turned so they fall through. They don't take more than 4 or 5 minutes to grill, depending on how thick they are. Turn them over however you can. There are two ways - either grab lots of them with a set of tongs and turn them over all at once (careful not to let any drop through). The second way is to take a large flipper and roll them all at once.

Using a grill basket is cheating. It hurts your soul.

When they're done, serve them warm, and serve the romesco sauce on the side. Yum

Midnight snack - fresh crusty bread dipped in romesco sauce. Guaranteed weight gain.

Roasted Red Peppers stuffed with shitake chevre

Susan's version of goat cheese stuffed red peppers.

Roast the red peppers as above. Be very careful not to over-roast the red peppers, because you need the peppers to stay whole before you stuff them. When you peel them, cradle the pepper in one hand and peel with the other. Cut each pepper into two shells. Its critical to use good red peppers for this dish

Goat cheese stuffing
Regular goat cheese - spanish is best, seems richer and saltier than the usual
Dried shitake mushrooms
Herbs de Provence
salt and pepper (to taste)

Leave the cheese out so it will warm up to room temperature

Rehydrate the mushrooms in a bath of chicken stock (use a small saucepan), over medium to low heat. Strain the mushrooms when they have puffed up and have had a chance to absorb the chicken stock. Chop them up as finely as possible. Saute in olive oil and/or butter for a few minutes.

Combine the goat cheese and mushrooms in a bowl. Add a healthy amount of herb de Provence and pepper. Taste it to judge the seasoning. If you get the stuff we did, you won't need much if any salt.

Put the cheese stuffing in a plastic bag and cut the corner. Pipe the cheese carefully into each pepper. The cheese will act like glue on the peppers, so you can almost seal the open edge.

The peppers and cheese should be around room temperature. If the peppers are cold, you may want to warm them slightly before serving.

Thanks to Alon and Elyse for making so many great dishes tonight! It was excellent, and the kitchen looks fantastic! What a great vision!

Introducing the Severn Seven Web Log!

This is the Blog for the Severn Seven...a dinner club of seven friends which has 2 years and running. Look here for awesome recipes, and maybe some funny pictures.

Last night's dinner was tapas. My contribution was Sangria. Recipe was:

Red wine
Ginger Ale
Lemons
Oranges
Strawberries
Brandy

Estimate quantities to taste. Alon, let me know how the leftovers go down.