Easter Feaster! Spiced Lamb Leg

Full disclosure: this is not my recipe. I got it from about.com. I love that website. They have so many really awesome recipes, as well as articles to help educate a culinary noob like me. The downside is that there are very rarely any pictures to go along with it. And being the aforementioned noob, pictures help a lot. So I thought I would go ahead and document my experience in trying out this recipe for an Easter lunch we're hosting for a group of friends.

By now, you've probably noticed the first picture below. Yes, that is a BOX of wine. Some of you might be saying, "Yeah, buddy! That stuff is the best, and amazingly inexpensive!" Others might be saying, "What an abomination on the wine world! How could someone desecrate the delicate flavors of such an ancient art?" If you're in that second group, I've got news for you. Times have changed, and boxed wine is good. It is more eco-friendly, it's cheaper, and it's here to stay. And it stays fresh for several weeks. That's especially helpful if you only need a cup or so at a time for cooking and don't want to be peer-pressured by a glass bottle to guzzle down another 3 glasses.

After starting with a cup of wine, the recipe then calls for orange juice. That kind of threw me off, but I'm realizing that if I'm going to learn how to appreciate food and cooking, then I'll need to get out of my über-consumer American paradigm that says "I don't normally drink wine and orange juice together. That's weird and must not taste good." Rather, I should try to think more about food like that scene from Ratatouille. Each ingredient has something to offer, and combines uniquely with any other ingredient. So after overcoming my ignorance, I went ahead and added the OJ.

Next, 1/4 cup of chile sauce. If you read my quesadilla post, you'll know that I have no qualms about this ingredient. :-)

The recipe called for minced onion. I wasn't sure if it meant fresh minced or not, but I decided to go with my dried chopped onion. Dried stuff usually has a stronger flavor and works better in marinades. Hopefully I didn't screw it up.

A little veggie oil. No surprise there; marinades typically have an oil component.

And the choir of spices.

And this is what it looks like all mixed together. It smelled really good. (Wine+OJ FTW)

The recipe said to use a deep, non-reactive, pan. I figured that a typical 9x13 glass pan would be deep enough since there was only about 2 cups worth of marinade. So I plopped the pre-netted boneless lamb roast (thank you, Costco) into the pan, and poured the marinade on top. The dried onions seemed to have sucked up a lot of the liquid, and decided to just sit on top. Hope that's not a problem later.

Emily turned around from her decorating and mocked me saying, "Yeah, work it baby, work it!" Miming photo snapping. Apparently it amused her to see me taking multiple shots of a hunk of meat. Thanks, honey. Sooo supportive.

Getting back to the task at hand...

The only thing left at this point was to wrap it up and stick it in the fridge. I'll rotate it once every few hours until tomorrow afternoon.

24 hours later:

I took it out of the glass pan, put it in the roasting rack and poured the marinade on top again.

Then it went into the oven at 450 F for 15 minutes to sear the meat. After that, down to 350 for about 2 1/2 hours.

I don't have a baster, so I thought I could just reach in and spoon the juices over the meat. But I was foiled by the design of my roasting rack. I had to lift the rack out to reach the juices in order to drizzle them on top. Kind of a pain. I should invest in a baster.

I also had to add a cup of water 3 or 4 times to keep the drippings from burning. I think that the fact that my pan is quite wide contributed to my having to do this more than expected. But it's a good thing to keep in mind.

Here it is afterward. The onions got a little too charred on top, but it still turned out quite nicely.

After cutting the netting off, I poured the rest of the liquid and yummy fattiness from the roasting pan on top. Yum.

I was expecting it to be a little more red in the middle. The thermometer read just over 170 when I pulled it out, which is supposed to be "medium." Next time, I think I'll take it out around 165 instead.

All in all, it turned out to be super delicious! Especially with the mashed potatoes. Also, I probably could have used all those drippings to make a really awesome gravy. A silent tear for missed opportunities...

Again, many thanks to about.com for this recipe (see link above). I highly recommend it to anyone who has a hankering for lamb leg. Happy Easter! He is Risen!

Ingredients:

1 boneless leg of lamb, rolled and tied

1 cup dry red wine, such as Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon

1/3 cup orange juice

1/4 cup chili sauce

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup minced onion

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation:

Place the lamb in a deep nonreactive pan (stainless steel, enamel-lined, or glass). Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl; pour over the lamb. Turn to coat well. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for up to 24 hours, turning occasionally. Drain lamb; place on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast in a preheated 450° oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°. Pour marinade over the lamb and continue roasting, basting frequently, for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until done to about 170° to 175° for medium. Add a little boiling water to prevent juices from cooking down and burning. Let roast stand for 10 minutes. Carve and serve with skimmed pan juices.
Serves 8.

A Worthy Beginning: Chorizo Black Bean Pineapple Quesadilla

I'm from Texas (more or less) and therefore have an eternal love for Tex-Mex. As such, I like to fancy myself somewhat of a Tex-Mex connoisseur. One of my favorite breakfast taco combos is egg and chorizo sausage. The chorizo has a nice smoky, slightly spicy flavor, and tends to ooze a scrumptious red out of the side of the delicious taco onto your hand or plate. I haven't had one of these in quite some time. Believe it or not, they're not as popular here in Hawaii as they were in San Antonio. So when I saw some in my local Safeway recently I picked up a pack to help quench my thirst for it.

Another staple of Tex-Mex is the quesadilla. Some may say that it's not "real" Tex-Mex, but I think the fact that it's on almost every Mexican restaurant menu I've ever seen means that it's legit.
My lovely wife Emily took a shopping trip for the evening, so I decided to do what I love to do-- root around the left overs and come up with something new. And that's what this blog is all about. Trying stuff, cooking new (sometimes odd) things, and eating it. Sometimes it's a flop, other times a home run.
Tonight was a home run night.

To hold me over while I picked out my meal, I grabbed the bowl of pineapple to munch on. Definitely one of the biggest culinary perks of living in Hawaii-- fresh, delicious pineapple.

So while loading up on scrumptious, acidic, yellow bounty, I looked at the stack of (mediocre, store-bought) tortillas and decided to make a quesadilla.

While I would never presume to underestimate the power of melted cheese, I wanted to add a little something more. Opened the fridge. Ding! Chorizo! So I browned (well, reddened) the chorizo to put on the quesadilla. Mmm... smelled awesome.

I remembered that we had some black bean refried beans in a can. (That's the brown lump pictured in the pan above. Not really necessary to warm it first.)

I popped it open, added it to the mix atop the cheesy tortilla. 2 min on each side. Done.

With a crispy tortilla shell and melty, meaty, beany inside, I took a bite and was decently pleased. But it seemed a little flat. It needed something with a little bite. Like pineapple! I took another bite of the quesadilla and then popped a piece of pineapple in my mouth at the same time. Holy smokes! That was amazing!
At that point there was only one thing to do-- make another one with pineapple slices inside. I ate it so fast that I almost missed it, but it was sooooo good.
So I'm officially adding this one to my repertoire-- the Chorizo Black Bean Pineapple Quesadilla. Mission accomplished.

For those who are more organized than I, here's an approximate recipe:

Makes 4 quesadillas

8 medium size flour tortillas

1 10 oz. package of chorizo sausage

1 16 oz. can refried black beans (low fat if that suits you)

16 oz. shredded cheese (or more if you're like me... balances the low fat beans)

1 cup chopped fresh pineapple (small enough so that it's not too lumpy in the tortilla)

Brown the sausage over medium-high heat (that's number 7 on my electric stove, fyi) until it separates and the fat is rendered. 

Put a separate pan on medium heat (number 5) and put in 1 tortilla and top with 1/4 of all the other ingredients: 4 oz. of cheese, 2.5 oz. of the chorizo, 4 oz. black refried beans, and 1/4 cup of pineapple. Put the other tortilla on top and let it cook for about 2 minutes until the beans soften and the cheese is melted. 

Very carefully flip the whole quesadilla over, supporting as much of it as you can with a spatula or other utensil so that the innards don't fall out (a true tragedy). Cook another 2 minutes on that side. 

Remove from the pan, cut into wedges and serve plain, or with whatever sides fit your Tex-Mex fancy-- sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.... Repeat the process 3 more times to use all the ingredients.