| Issue #03 - April 10, 2009 |
Simple Art of Cooking
Time for New Beginnings
Silvia Lehrer
After months of extreme wintry weather and battened hatches, we welcome the first foods of the season with young spring lamb, asparagus and baby artichokes pared down to their tender tips. Like the solemn yet festive holiday of Easter, spring is a season of second chances and the season's ingredients signal renewal and change.
Many dishes served at Easter have a deep-rooted heritage and lamb is probably the most celebrated food to grace the Easter table. Lamb is a healthy meat. It has no marbling and excess fat can be trimmed away. One of my favorite cuts is the leg and I love to prepare agnello in salsa menta or boned leg of lamb with mint sauce, Italian style. The boned out leg is stuffed with garlic and cloves, tied up and roasted. The delectable mint sauce can be prepared up to two days ahead and served at room temperature. Extra-virgin olive oil coated asparagus roasted in a hot 450 degree oven for just eight to 10 minutes and a quick cook rosemary couscous can make easy work for the hosts while the lamb is resting before carving.
Start your menu with deviled eggs and end with ricotta tart, an appropriate dessert for Easter.
COUSCOUS WITH FRESH ROSEMARY
One of the simplest and quickest side dishes to prepare and a boon to the home cook.
Serves 6-8
4 1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade or low-sodium canned broth
1 tablespoon finely chopped, fresh rosemary leaves
1 red bell pepper, seeded, ribbed and diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cups dry couscous
1. In a saucepan bring the stock to a boil with the rosemary. Add diced pepper, butter and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer mixture for 8-10 minutes until pepper is tender.
2. Add couscous to the hot broth and return to the boil. Remove from heat and cover pan. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, then fluff with two forks and taste to adjust seasoning as necessary.
AGNELLO IN SALSA DI MENTA
Roast boned lamb with fresh mint sauce.
Serves 6-8
Mint Sauce:
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Pinch coarse salt
1 leg of lamb about six pounds, boned
6-7 cloves of garlic cut into thin slivers
1 teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
10 whole cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1. For the sauce, snip the mint leaves with kitchen shears and put in a serving bowl. Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, the wine vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir to mix and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature to serve.
2. Have butcher bone out leg. Mix garlic slivers with salt and pepper together.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Open the meat and sprinkle the inside with the garlic mixture and the whole cloves. Roll the meat to enclose seasonings and tie with kitchen string. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Pour oil in a roasting pan and put in the lamb. Bake about one hour, depending on the thickness of the meat, rather than the weight. The meat should be cooked to the medium rare stage or pink (about 135-140 degrees,) never rare.
5. Test lamb for doneness pressing into the meat with your thumb. Roast should be slightly springy but firm to the touch. Let rest for 8-10 minutes before slicing. Remove strings. Slice the lamb across the grain and serve overlapping slices on a warm serving plate with mint sauce.
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