Roast Leg of Lamb

I was experiencing "cooker's block" the other night while trying to think of what I might cook that would fill my need for "yummy." I worked backwards into this roast lamb, because baba ganoush and hummus kept coming to mind. The jump to a leg of lamb wasn't a far stretch. I luckily found one on sale at the local market - half price. How fun is that?!

I love to peruse recipes, so when I set my sights on what to cook, I will pull out several cookbooks and read recipes online, and what I end up with is usually an amalgam of several recipes that I've pulled pieces from. Since I'm usually tinkering with ingredients I know I like, I almost always enjoy the outcome. Here is a recent endeavor.

Herb Encrusted Roast Leg of Lamb with Oven Roasted Carrots

Reserve about a teaspoonful of the herbs to toss with the carrots.
Be sure to let the roast come to room temperature before cooking.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
6-pound leg of lamb, bone in
6 large garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary or about
     1 Tbs dried
(2 tsp chopped thyme)
1 Tbs kosher or sea salt
1-2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1.5 pounds carrots
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

PREHEAT OVEN to 450

Mince the garlic and chop the rosemary and thyme, if using, and combine with the salt and pepper, reserving a teaspoon or two for the carrots. You can chop your ingredients on a cutting board, whir them together in a food processor for a few seconds, or use a mortar and pestle. It's all a matter of ease. I have even used a coffee grinder.

Add the mustard to the herbs and mix well. Using your hands, slather the mixture evenly over every nook and cranny you can possibly find. After you've covered the lamb evenly with the mustard mixture, cover in plastic wrap and let it marinate in the refrigerator over night. If time is of the essence, let it marinate for as long as you can spare.

Cook for 25 minutes at 450, then lower the heat to 350 and cook another hour or so for medium rare. Medium rare for lamb is right at 145 degrees, if your thermometer works correctly.  My thermometers have never worked right (or maybe it's the driver?), and I've tried several, so I've resorted to kicking them out of the oven and going only by time. Going by time does require a bit of guesswork, but I've cooked many a good roast that way.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
While the roast is cooking during the "first leg" so to speak, or while you are waiting for it to come to room temp, peel and slice carrots. Toss the carrots with the reserved herbs and the olive oil. When it's time to drop the temperature down to 350, sprinkle the carrots around the roast and cook the remaining hour, basting every 20 minutes.

Remove the lamb from the oven when done and set on a platter to rest for about 15 minutes. Slice and serve with the carrots.

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Pure isn't pure. Thank you FDA.

I'm a bit of a purity nut. I never used margarine because butter is pure and natural. (Yes, I can be a contradiction here too, however, so don't call me on it when you see it!) I like my brulee plain, and my martinis old-school – rarely dirty and never gussied up.

I decided to make vanilla extract last month. Fairly easy to do. Here is a great place to get your beans, and there are recipes there also. Very simple. About 5 beans to 8 ounces of vodka. Then just time.

My extract had been marinating about five weeks, so I popped the top and tasted it. Hmmm. Tastes like alcohol. No surprise there, I guess. For years, people have been known to drink extract for its alcohol content. So I opened a vanilla extract I had in my cupboard. It tasted more vanilla-y; sweeter. I wondered why. Mine had been soaking plenty long enough. Two weeks is often suggested, but I wanted to go the extra mile and waited a very long five weeks. I contacted Beanilla and this is the (very helpful) response I received.

The flavor comes out of the extract during the baking process. At this time, the heat evaporates the alcohol from the extract, leaving behind a rich vanilla flavor.

Store bought alcohol often contains artificial additives or sweeteners, which will definitely mask the flavor of alcohol if you are sipping from the bottle.

Additives?! To vanilla extract? It never occurred to me. So I pulled it out and sure enough, it had glucose syrup added. Sugar! But the label said “Pure Vanilla.” I pulled out my other bottle of vanilla. It said “100% Pure.” Another taste test ensued. The “100% Pure” bottle tasted just like mine, alcohol-y.

I might not ever have thought twice about the difference between pure and 100% pure, had I not wondered how companies like Fisher can sell “pure” honey when I knew good and well it was NOT pure. I did a little research about honey and found that for an item to be considered “pure” by the FDA, it need only contain 51% of the named ingredient. Fifty-One Percent. If it is labeled 100% pure, we are to know that nothing has been added.

Now, doesn’t this just chap your hide? Pure isn’t pure.
LESSON: Look for 100% pure when it matters.
The rest is just smoke and mirrors.