The Silence of the Lamb...Seriously

I have to start by telling my friend and fellow Blogger, Joelle:  I'll get to the tag game shortly.  I have to mow the lawn today so I need to write quick!

We got a call from our friends that live in a secluded little neighborhood, on a lake, and back in the woods.  Terry the Midwife, the Neighbor Lady at the other end of the lake and of whom the best description would be "Wonderfully Eclectic", was going to have to move soon and wanted to put on a big spread for the nearby folks and it just so happened we were on the guest list as well.  The plan was to slaughter a young lamb and create many forms of tasty lamb creations.  I have to say that I really have no interest in slaughtering a lamb but would if it was the only way to get it to the table.  Therefore, the fact that Terry wanted to start from scratch...I mean REALLY from scratch, was no less than impressive.  However, she was unable to find dinners sacrificial component, and fell back on two legs of lamb.

We arrived on foot from Troy and Russell's house to find a beautifully set table with numerous cheeses, broken breads including chiabatta, whole wheat chiabatta, and a wonderful olive loaf that I suspect was baked by my friend Shonna at Fire & Iron Bakery.  To get to this table, one had to walk through the kitchen passing a much smaller arrangement of 8-10 bottles of wine and the wonderful smells of Lamb, Rosemary and Coriander Potatoes, and other wonderful smells.  Sitting on the back porch, overlooking the lake, laughing like hyenas at each other, and generally having a great time was only momentarily interrupted when Terry dropped the first course on the table.  Lamb Stew.   Now, having not asked her her recipe, I can only guess based on what I ate....and, of course, how I would do it.

Lamb Stew

1-2 lbs Leg of Lamb, diced large (save the bones)
1/4 cup rendered Lamb Fat
1 cup dry Red Wine
4 cups Water
1/2 cup diced Onion
3 cloves finely diced Garlic
1 lb fresh Green Beans
1 bag Frozen Peas
1 12oz. can chopped Tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a roasting pan on the stove top, brown the seasoned lamb very well and remove from the pan. In the remaining fat, saute onions and garlic until translucent.  Depending on how I'm feeling, I might even brown the edges a little.  Deglaze the roasting pan with red wine, making sure to scrape all the tasty bits off the bottom, let simmer until reduced by half.  Add this to your soup pot, add the water and bones, and let simmer for about an hour, just to get the tasty goodness from the bones.  Remove bones and add the onions and garlic and let simmer to get the flavors combined and until the meat is tender..  Finally, add green vegetables and tomatoes and cook until the veggies are done.

Now, this is really a soup, not a stew but that can be remedied by taking some of the lamb fat and making a brown roux (there's a Blog Post for that) and whisking in some of the stock you've made until it has reached the desired level of thickness.

While looking at our surroundings, Gina and I realized that the quantity and quality of the antiques that filled the house were no less than stunning.  The bad news was that they weren't hers and she would have to leave them behind.  The beautifully carved Barristers Chair, the old woodworking tools, the shadow boxes, and so on would all be left behind for the next tenant.  A shame to be sure.

After a few more glasses of wine, many more laughs, and a few minutes of watching Andrew fishing off the end of the dock, I was summoned to the kitchen to lend my part to the next course.  As I entered the kitchen, an absolutely gorgeous Leg of Lamb was extracted from the oven in all of its roasted, brown, juicy goodness and set to rest for just a bit.

Roast Leg of Lamb

There are two trains of thought here and they only differ by one essential component:  The Leg Bone.  Leaving the bone in any roast will, of course, add flavor and richness but removing the bone one can decrease cooking time and allow for better temperature control, allowing you to select rare, medium, and so on with more ease.

Terry's Lag of Lamb had the bone in and was roasted at about 350 degrees and very simply with Essential Meat Spices: Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder...and that's all. What Terry ended up with was a leg that was just past Medium, incredibly juicy, with a crisp outer layer of fat, and a pan full of juices...and it could not have come out more perfect.  I couldn't tell you how long she roasted it but I can tell you that the internal temp was right around 140 degrees when it came out and rode the residual heat until it hit that perfect level of Done.

Having explained Terry's method, I would like to take a minute to go over how to prepare a proper Leg of Lamb and the instructions could not be more simple:  Any way you like.  Lamb is a unique flavor that can be enjoyed on a skewer over fire, stewed, roasted, grilled, sashimi style (tartar, that is), and so on.  It is very much one of those things that, if you like it, the only way to screw it up is to over cook it.  Terry used a very simple preparation that featured the taste of the meat.  Another way would be to bone the leg, butterfly it, marinate it in olive oil, parsley, garlic, and red onions over night, and grill until medium rare to medium, which is a classic Greek preparation.  A few other additions could be granulated onion/garlic, a little ginger, Montreal Steak Seasoning, and so on.  If you can grill a steak, you can grill a butterflied Leg of Lamb.

My skills in the carving department were called upon once the Leg had rested.  I carved my little heart out, placed the slices in a baking dish with the juices from the roasting pan, and then proceeded to break open the bone to extract the beautiful marrow that was waiting there for me.  I thought if it as my reward for the carving job but it turns out Terry very much liked it as well.

To the table it went.  It was dark outside, Andrew had been run off the dock by an impromptu rain shower, and we were staring down a table with Hummus, Tzatziki Sauce, Kalamata Olives, Breads, Wine, and more food than will be eaten in the next week.  Everyone had been eating for hours and it didn't help that Gina, Andrew, and Myself had stopped at a favorite Cajun place in Atlanta only a few hours before.  The end result was my being stuffed to the gills and so very happy that I was.  Terry had cooked all day and it came after spending the morning on the river with Troy and Russell, we all had plenty of wine, and we all left on foot, in the dark.  No less than great night of food.

The good news of the evening was that the neighbors were spared the sounds of a lamb fighting the final throws of life, and if you've ever heard it, you would know why Jamie Fosters character stole the lamb and ran off.  The other good news of the evening was that Terry's efforts did not go unnoticed (I mean, I'm writing about it, right?) and even Gina and Andrew even enjoyed themselves.  No small feat as they don't enjoy lamb.

Now, in closing, I will answer the two burning questions that I know everyone is snickering about:  1)  Yes, there were Fava Beans.  2)  No, there was no Chianti.

Party Well, Eat Better,
Rob