Thursday, April 5, 2012

Lamb, Anyone????

So I'm in the dentist's office the other day, having my teeth cleaned.
Anita, my hygienist and also a mom to one of Lawyer-boy's classmates is telling
me about her Italian Easter dinner.

A nice tenderloin...  Manicotti (homemade, of course)

And lamb. Done with herbs and marinated in dry red wine.

I haven't ever cooked lamb. My grandpa would buy us a leg of lamb for Easter
when I was really small and I remember liking it.
But Dave wasn't a fan.

Only now, there's a crowd at holidays, so there are plenty of people to eat it, right?

Only how do you roast it? What seasonings work best?  Rosemary? Lemon? Onion?

And would you marinade or not?

And what cut? Leg? Boneless leg?

Lamb just sounds so old-world Christian, doesn't it?

Or Greek. Like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

But anyway, if you know anything about roasting lamb or which cut is the nicest for a crowd, educate me.

Pretty please????


23 comments:

  1. I'm clueless other than what I've seen on Food Network. And all I remember is that you never cook it well done. It's always like medium rare.

    I don't think I could eat it, though. Baaaa baaaa just echoes in my head!!

    Sorry, Ruthy. LOL

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    1. I have no such scruples...

      Think veal parmegiana.... Oh my stars, that's some good eatin' right there! And I figure it supports the Connealy Cause in Nebraska. ;)

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    2. And I never eat veal! It breaks my heart!

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  2. Wellllll...since you asked...in my humble opinion, the best lamb is a chocolate one. And I'm partial to biting the head off first so the poor wee laddie can't watch me it the rest of him. Guess that's the animal-lovin' vegetarian in me. :-)

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    1. Oh gosh, Kav, I love this! Wonder what the reaction would be if I served chocolate lamb for dinner.

      I thought of you the other day. I was buying dog food and they had a new flavor in the brand I was buying - rabbit.
      I know it would be good for Fenway because he has skin and digestive issues that make him sensitive to chicken, but I couldn't bring myself to buy the bunny.

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    2. Kav, I love those too, LOL! Sweet, milk chocolate lambies! Laughing in upstate and totally understanding... Did you know that Paul McCartney and his wife Linda didn't eat meat after sitting in a restaurant one spring, eating lamb, and overlooking a pasture of....

      Sheep.

      At least that's the story I heard. This is why you never ever ever befriend meat.

      We named our pigs "Ham", "Bacon" and "Chops"... ;)

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  3. LOL, Kav. My daughter showed me a funny cartoon the other day. It had two chocolate bunnies talking. One's rear end was bitten off. The other's ears were bitten off. The first says, "My butt hurts." And the other says, "What? I can't hear you."

    :) We're so warped in our house. :)

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  4. My Dad did lamb for Easter dinner one time - he had gotten the recipe from Emeril on TV (long before the Food Network...), and it was delicious. I've always wanted to try it myself, but lamb is so pricey it never makes its way past the Budget Police (they live next to my Internal Editor, in the fashionable neighborhood in my brain).

    I've heard the price of lamb varies with the part of the country you live in, though. We've never lived in a large sheep-growing area.

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    1. You guys are as adorably clueless as I am, LOL! Jan, I expect that's true. I know when I researched raising sheep and marketing lambs for Waiting Out the Storm (a really good book, by the way!) Sarah (the heroine) marketed her lambs in NYC because there are lots of ethnic celebrations there and they get top dollar for lamb.

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  5. I agree Ruthy that lamb just seems right for Easter. We used to have it when I was small, but I don't think I've ever cooked it. Like Jan said, it's usually very pricey - so I'm afraid to ruin it. Not like a chicken dish that if it isn't great you say, oh well.

    Ted loves it though so maybe I should look into it. We usually do an Easter ham, but I'm going low salt these days so I can't eat that.

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    1. Mary, that's it. It just seems like it should be a new tradition to have the little kids get the feel of lamb for Easter. Gotta check further into this.

      Roast lamb and mint jelly.

      (Oops, sorry, Kav! Thank you so much for hangin' out with a bunch of carnivores like us, honey!!!

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  6. So we were in COSTCO today and I looked at the lamb thinking maybe.

    $34 for the smallest. No way am I experimenting on that!

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  7. I do not eat lamb, but I make it and my hubby really likes it. I marinate (no bone) with olive oil, garlic, salt pepper, and rosemary. In my opinion, you really need to marinate to add flavor and tenderness. When I mentioned the lamb with mint jelly we used to have as kids, my husband looked at me as if I were crazy. Italians just don't do it that way.

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    1. Madelyn, that's how Anita does hers, too! (Italian, also) I think the mint jelly with rosemary seasoning must be a British/Irish/Scottish thing.

      So no other liquid except the olive oil in the marinade? And how fun to see you over here!!!

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  8. Hey Ruthy -- Rachel Ray did lamb on her show today! And of course, I thought of you. It looked pretty simple (but I have to admit to closing my eyes a lot.) She stuck sprigs of fresh herbs in the poor little thing before roasting him. I bet you can get the recipe online. I was more interested in the Cake Boss guy's crumble cake. Have never heard of that but it looks yummy.

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    1. Kav, I love how you say "Roasting Him"... Meat is so personal for you, LOL! ;)

      Crumble cake....

      What is that? You wanna experiment and come on here and tell us about crumble cake, Kav??? 'Cause I'd love to have you!

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  9. You know, the lamb may be cheaper after Easter, Mary. They may be gouging a bit right now.

    Madelyn, thanks for sharing how you've done it!

    Kav, I'll have to look for that cake. My cakes sometimes do dumb things like crumble (ie. have an "iceberg" break off!), so it sounds perfect. :)

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    1. Little bunnies are usually about $15 to buy at the local farm markets...

      Last week?

      $24.99

      :)

      It's all about supply and demand. And the lamb at Sam's Club came from New Zealand.

      That's a long way!

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  10. You do know that your nephew is known as Meat-Boy (kind of like his cousin Lawyer-Boy only not so glamerous) and he may not know a lot but there is one thing he knows and that is meat. He can probably give you some good tips on which cut and how to cook it- they train them on all that at Wegmans!

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    1. MEAT-BOY???????

      Oh, Wende, I'm laughing out loud at that! We could call him Butcher-Boy but I'm not sure that's much better, LOL!

      Hey, that's so true and I never thought to tap into Jerry's brain... I bet Wegman's has some awesome lamb recipes!

      Wende! You're a stinkin' genius!!! Love you!

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