Spring Summer On The Lamb

I was once again unable to resist the siren call of Costco last Sunday morning. I tried, feebly, to struggle in vain against the lure of the meat and produce sections. But I was in a weakened state, it must be said in my defense. Daughter was out of town, hell, out of the country, and my Bride was to flee head out the next day herself on a trip to once again leave Claude and my self alone and forlorn, surrounded by naught but, er, um many pounds of meat and gallons of wine with which to rejoice console our heavy heavy hearts.

And waists.

I really liked how the rosti I had made a few weeks ago turned out, but I wanted to jazz it up a bit in that true bold and daring Swiss style, so instead of using plain white spuds I got a mixed bag of the neat fingerling spuds that Costco sells

and set them a boil as soon as I got home. Again, you boil them for only 5 minutes and then drain and let them cool for hours (I cooked them at noon or so and let them cool until 6pm or so). I just love how the purple ones look and taste, so I thought they’d make a neat rosti.

Right after the spuds came off the heat I turned my attention to the lamb

I decided to go for a sweeter ham-like marinade instead of the more savory type. So I started with 1/2 cup of maple syrup

a healthy sprig of fresh rosemary and the zest of an orange

and put all that in the food processor along with some garlic (of course), a little salt and a little pepper and whirled away

then I took Fluffy out of the net and butterflied her just a little to expose more surface area for the marinade

and then trimmed off as much of the surface fat as I could

as there’s more than enough integrated in to keep things moist.

Then I droozled on a little marinade on the interior surface

and schtuffed her into a big ziplock, poured on the rest, massaged the marinade all around

and then put it in the fridge for a good 5 hours or so, flipping every hour and a half for even coverage

Fast forward those hours and out came Fluffy and I trussed her up, roast-like

and I generously salted and peppered her and put her on the grill to roast indirect between two banks of coals (I didn’t use any smoke wood) and let her cook for, oh, a half hour or so before I started the rosti.

The now cooled and peeled spuds were grated

(and I was very pleased with the color) and then pressed into the skillet atop the melted butter and crumbled bacon

for the first 15 minutes of cooking, during which I attended to two important duties. First, I rinsed and trimmed the asparagus, wrapped 3 spears with prosciutto and held them together with toothpicks

and then covered the plate with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for later

and secondly I opened this

the Santa Ema Reserve Cabernet 2008. The Wine Advocate gave it 90 pts, and my liquor store only wanted $8.99 for it, so how could I say no? For the price it’s very good, with nice body and flavors which tend to the more austere French style (flint, tobacco, cedar, that sort of thing) as opposed to the more currant-laden fruit bombs that I prefer but again, for 9 bucks it more than fit the bill. So yay.

Now it was time to flip Mr. Rosti

and let it go for another 15 minutes or so. Out on the grill Fluffy was heating up nicely (but I must confess I let her go too high, 150º, which was too medium and not enough medium-rare. Mea culpa) and I took her off to set a spell

whilst I grilled the asparagus on the top rack

and the rosti finished up.

Soon all three met on the plate

and in the stomach. Pretty yum.

7 Responses to “Spring Summer On The Lamb”

1. nightfly says:

   July 13, 2011 at 11:38 am

   We’ve gotta get you on Master Chef.

2. Dr Alice says:

   July 13, 2011 at 11:53 am

   That looks great. I’m assuming Claude got his as well?

3. Mr. Bingley says:

   July 13, 2011 at 3:03 pm

   Yes, Doc, my trimming was sadly rather slovenly and Dear Claude was most obliging in removing the lamb that happened to hit the floor.

4. JeffS says:

   July 13, 2011 at 3:25 pm

   Claude did look seriously upbeat in the photo, Bing. I’m glad that you made his day.

5. Mori says:

   July 13, 2011 at 5:22 pm

   Hmm… THAT’s what I should have had for lunch… instead of the queso and chips.

6. Julie says:

   July 13, 2011 at 6:31 pm

   “happened to hit the floor”? Was that an oops-on-purpose? 🙂

7. Mr. Bingley says:

   July 13, 2011 at 10:22 pm

   Well, I get rather clumsy I guess, Julie!