Today, I want to share with you my recipe for Roast Leg of Lamb. I love this recipe! It seemed like a perfect dish for our Domestic Union celebration, but with 50 guests, boy did we need a lot of it! This is one of the oldest recipes in my repertoire. I have made a version of this lamb for Thanksgiving and any other holiday when someone would buy me a lamb leg since I was in high school. It was inspired by my father. When we had a bit of money for meat in Belarus in the summer, we would take our lamb into the woods, start a fire and stab it all over and shove garlic in before baking it. My dad would walk around in the woods and find an evergreen tree with little berries, I think it was juniper. We would place that with the meat over the fire and allow it to roast. I wanted to incorporate the garlic and smoked herb flavor and add in some freshness by adding lemon juice and zest. Please do not overcook the lamb!
Tag: recipe
Spinach and Chard Quiche
My filling, inspired by chef Alain Ducasse, had some lambs brain in it for a bit of extra flavor. If you want to add it, a half a lamb’s brain will do, or perhaps a bit of prosciutto or some pancetta.
Smetannik Cake
Smetannik means “the one that is made of sour cream” and it is my all time favorite Russian cake. When we first came to North Carolina and found an International Grocery (read Russian store), we started buying their frozen Smetannik by the pound. It was THE celebration cake. It would get cut down to whatever size we wanted and thawed to a delicious creamy cake.
Cranberry Custard Tart
Cranberry is a standard Thanksgiving flavor, so I wanted to make a bit of a nod to it especially since I refused to follow any other aspects of the American tradition. The cranberry is cooked down and paired with some orange juice for a wonderful and complex flavor. I prepare the recipe in a 12 inch deep tart pan, if you are using a standard 9 inch tart pan, simply divide the recipe in half.
Baked Camembert with Porcini Mushrooms and Figs
To start off our meal, and to placate everyone while I was finishing cooking, I served a baked Camembert with sautéed porcini mushrooms and shallots sweetened with some fig jam. I love cheese, but have never been a fan of Camembert on my cheese plate, but I do love it baked with some jam! Imagine a baked brie enveloped by puff pastry and topped with some raspberries and walnuts, what could be better? I wanted to make our dish a bit more savory and a tad less buttery so I went with searing some porcini with shallots baked over the Camembert. Everything can be assembled ahead of time, and just stick it in the oven for 10 minutes to warm up before serving. The temperature is not really important, so you can add it to the oven with your turkey/goat/lamb/ham or whatever else is roasting in there!
Roast Half Goat with Lemon, Garlic, and Anchovy
I was never a huge fan of turkey, so I generally prefer to make a big lamb roast. This year, I wanted to make a whole baby goat or lamb! My friend Anwar looked for one for me, and in the end sold me an entire half of a full grown goat, which made a beautiful roast!
Ravioli à la Monégasque
Monégasque means of Monaco, and it appears that this is a variation of one of Monaco’s national dishes. A ravioli filled with chard, spinach, cheeses, and a bit of lamb’s brain (because why wouldn’t you?) is served on top of a stew of beef braised in red wine with carrots and herbs, very much like a Boeuf Bourguignon.
Lobster and Summer Truffle Spaghetti
I was leafing through Alain Ducasse’s book and came across this combination of lobster and fresh truffle, perfect for our fish eaters. I had recently bought a little jar of fresh Summer Truffles since this cookbook required truffle for almost every recipe, and decided Thanksgiving was a great moment to serve it out. I loved a lot of Ducasse’s recipe and was inspired by his flavor profile, but have simplified this recipe to make it easier for the home cook.
Chez Nous 