by Lynn Greene
Lamb too often overlooked during holidays
Happy Easter! For all the great things to love about
holidays — religious renewal, family traditions, company,
great memories — there’s another bonus. Every holiday
comes with its own special foods, and that means those
items are usually plentiful and on sale at your local
supermarkets.
The past couple of months have been resplendent with
choices. For President’s Day, it’s cherry anything. For
Lent, it’s fish. For St. Patrick’s Day, there’s corned
beef. For Easter, there’s ham and lamb.
If you own a freezer, these are good occasions to stock
up on items that might be hard to find or are generally
more expensive than you like.
Lamb is a good example. Not only is it usually too expensive
for an everyday meal, it’s often hard to find. Of course,
you can get around that by buying it from a local producer.
Pinn-Oak Ridge Farm in Delavan, owned by Steven and
Darlene Pinnow, is a good example. Some of the finest
restaurants around have discovered their quality lamb: Spiaggia
in Chicago, Popeye’s in Lake Geneva and the Abbey in
Fontana, to name a few.
Their products are available at some local grocery stores,
and you also can buy direct from them at (262) 728-9629,
or go to www.wisconsinlamb.com.
Leg of lamb
— Courtesy of Pinn-Oak Ridge Farm
Serves 8
1 (5-6 lb.) leg of lamb, butterflied
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, grated
1 Tbps. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. diced thyme
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
Butterfly the leg of lamb, by cutting it open lengthwise
(cut halfway through, next to the bone) and unfold the
meat like a butterfly. This creates a thinner piece of
meat which means it will cook faster. Place lamb in shallow
dish. Combine remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly and
pour over lamb. Refrigerate and marinate for at least
one hour, but preferably overnight.
Remove lamb and reserve marinade.
Place lamb on barbecue rack four inches from heat source.
Baste often with marinade. Grill to 140 F for rare or
150 F to 155 F for medium.
Spicy lamb kebobs
— Courtesy of Pinn-Oak Ridge Farm
1 pound cubed lamb
2 medium onions cut into chunks
2 green peppers cut into large chunks
2 tomatoes cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsps. lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Soak wooden skewers in water for about an hour. Then
assemble the kebobs by alternating the meat and vegetables.
Put on low heat of grill. Mix garlic, juice, oil and
brush on the meat and vegetables during grilling. Grill
until preferred doneness.
Roasted rack of lamb with watercress
salad
— Recipe courtesy of the American Lamb Board
1/2 lamb rack (should be an eight-bone rack)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup course salt
1/4 cup red chile powder
1/4 cup Rosemary fresh chopped
1/4 cup cilantro fresh chopped
1/4 cup coarse pepper
1/4 cup water
2 bunches watercress
Juice from one whole lime
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix salt, chile powder, pepper,
rosemary, cilantro, and water in a bowl to make a paste.
Pack the paste all around the rack of lamb. Heat the
oil in a heavy skillet on medium heat. Place rack in
skillet and sear for 2 minutes on each side. Place skillet
in the oven with lamb fat side up for 18 to 20 minutes.
Remove rack from oven and let rest for five minutes.
Clean the watercress and mix with lime juice, olive
oil and salt and pepper to taste. Slice the rack into
individual chops. Serve two chops per serving with the
salad.
Wine with lamb
According to wine expert Karen MacNeil, author of the
best-selling book “The Wine Bible,” lamb is the perfect
all-around meat for wine. She writes, “a glass of great
wine brings out lamb’s succulent, mild, meaty flavor
and makes it even more irresistible.”
Try a well-structured cabernet or merlot with a roasted
rack of lamb, a velvety shiraz with a roasted leg of
lamb, or a crisp sauvignon blanc with a lamb salad.
Jelly with that?
Throughout the world, mint is a very popular herb used
in cooking and as a medicinal.
In the United States, we tend to associate mint with
iced tea and toothpaste — too bad! It’ s much more versatile
than that. Mint jelly or mint sauce is a good accompaniment
to lamb.
A sauce can be made with very finely chopped mint submerged
in a sweetened vinegar or you could make a mint jelly.
Homemade mint jelly usually consists of a base of apples
or apple juice, and is not that gaudy green color you
find in the store.
No matter what you choose, (and store-bought is fine)
mint is a good choice to serve, because it aids in the
digestion of meat, breaking down the albuminous fibers
of the lamb.
If you don’t care for mint, try a currant jelly.
Editor’s note: Lynn Greene is senior editor for Community Shoppers Inc., which publishes the Janesville Messenger. Contact her at lgreene@communityshoppers.com |
