Roasted Lamb with Lemon, Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We are going to have a classic Easter dinner with friends next Saturday. I love these folks, but they've been at my table so often that I feel compelled to try something new, or at the very least, rework something old and give it a new life. I did some searching this week and was able to find a recipe for lamb that sounded really interesting. It was a Martha Stewart recipe, so I was reasonably confident that the recipe would work, but it was strongly flavored and I wanted to make sure it played nicely with the other dishes I planned to serve with dinner. Tonight we had a dress rehearsal. It work well enough that I'm happy to share the recipe with those of you who enjoy food with robust and gutsy flavors. I did vary a bit from the recipe.  I used very small potatoes that did not lend themselves to peeling or fussing of any sort, so they went into the roasting pan with their skins intact.  My omission caused no problems with the finished dish. There was one problem that I had to address when the roast came out of the oven. It did not brown and I found the color it did have off-putting. I added a teaspoon or so of Kitchen Bouquet to the scant pan drippings and used them to paint the surface of the meat. Voila! Only you and I know where that meat got its lovely brown color. Having completed had the test run, I'm going to change the vegetables I originally planned to serve with the lamb. The potatoes are so strongly flavored that I'm reverting to plain steamed asparagus or green bean bundles  as an accompaniment. I think they will provide better balance to the meal. I really liked this dish and I think you will too. Here's the recipe.

Roasted Marinated Lamb with Lemon, Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
Wide strips of zest and fresh juice from 2 lemons
1 head garlic, cloves smashed and peeled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 pounds boneless leg of lamb roast, tied at 1-inch intervals
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 pounds small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled

Directions:
1) Roughly chop strips of lemon zest. In a medium bowl, combine lemon zest and juice, garlic, and rosemary; whisk in oil. Pat lamb dry and season with salt and pepper. Place lamb in a 1-gallon resealable bag and pour in marinade. Seal bag, pressing to remove as much air as possible. Turn bag several times to coat lamb in marinade. Let sit at room temperature 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight), flipping bag halfway through.
2) Preheat oven to 450. (If lamb was marinated overnight, remove from refrigerator 1 hour prior to cooking.) Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches; season with salt. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes.
3) Remove lamb from marinade, letting excess marinade drip back into bag. Place lamb on a plate; season generously with salt and pepper. Pour marinade into a roasting pan; add potatoes. Cook 15 minutes. Push potatoes to edges of pan; place lamb in center. Roast 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 300 and cook until medium-rare (an instant-read thermometer should read 125 when inserted in thickest part of lamb), 1 to 1 1/4 hours, tossing potatoes halfway through.
4) Tent pan loosely with foil and let lamb rest 20 minutes before slicing. Toss potatoes with pan juices and serve alongside lamb. Yield: 8 servings.






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New York Strip Roast with Port Wine and Mustard Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...When all is said and done, Christmas is much like a wedding. Weeks of planning and preparation are over in nanoseconds, and along with the special memories we create are the remains of the day, which someone must attend to. The best part of being responsible for planning and execution of a feast is being excused from its clean-up detail. That gives me time to sit a spell and tell you about our dinner tonight, as others, very noisily I might add, tackle table debris and the dishes. Being queen is not half-bad on these occasions. One of the delights of living in an area where cattle and sheep are raised, is the abundance and affordability of meat, especially during the holiday season. Beef, standing rib and loin, can be had for under $5 a pound and that means that groaning boards in this area don't groan, they moan under the weight of holiday meat entrées. Most years, I prepare a really large boneless rib roast, but my trip to the market this week revealed some really nice looking New York Strip roasts that I decided to bring home as well. I've had a recipe developed by Wolfgang Puck for several years now and the roasts gave me the perfect opportunity to experiment with it. This is a nice alternative to a standing rib roast for the holiday. It is very easy to do and I made the roast as directed, save for the fact that I used coarse garlic salt and seasoned the roast 24 hours before cooking. It may be in my head, but I think the meat is more flavorful if its seasoned and sits for a good long while before baking. Our dinner began with a fresh pea soup and gravlax. Because of the potential sweetness of the sauce, I kept the remainder of the food quite simple and served the roast with Potatoes Anna and plain, lightly steamed asparagus. As it turned out, the sauce is wonderfully nuanced and I recommend it without reservation. I do think the beef, if cooked to specifications, will be overdone. I personally will aim for rare beef next time around. I also had to make a last-minute slurry to thicken the sauce, but in the light of eternity that was a small glitch and easily taken care of. I'm so glad I gave this recipe a try. It did not disappoint. Here's how the roast is made.

New York Strip Roast with Port Wine and Mustard Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Wolfgang Puck

Ingredients:
Roast
1 whole New York strip, about 5 pounds, trimmed, trimmings reserved
Kosher salt (I used a coarse garlic salt)
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
Port Wine Dijon Sauce
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 cup port wine
1 cup beef stock
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1) Place rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Generously season all surfaces of roast with salt and pepper. Place a heavy metal roasting pan or cast iron skillet on a burner over high heat. Heat pan, then film bottom of pan with olive oil. When oil begins to smoke, carefully put meat in pan and turn down heat to medium-high; scatter reserved trimming scraps around it. Sear until meat is evenly brown, about 5 minutes per side.
3) Transfer meat and trimmings to a roasting pan. Place roasting pan in oven and cook meat for about 45 minutes, or until it is medium rare, 140 to 145 degrees F on a meat thermometer.
4) Transfer meat from roasting pan to a serving platter, tent with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
5) While meat rests, remove and discard scraps from roasting pan. Pour off all but a thin film of fat. Transfer pan to stovetop and heat drippings over medium-high heat. Add shallot and, as soon as it starts to sizzle, pour in port wine and stock, stirring and scraping with a wooden spoon to dissolve pan deposits. With a whisk, stir in the cream. Reduce heat to maintain a bare simmer and, a piece at a time, whisk in butter until it melts. Continue cooking until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn off heat and stir in mustard. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer sauce to a small saucepan. Keep warm, but do not let boil.
6) Uncover New York strip and transfer it to a cutting board. Stir any juices that have collected into sauce. With a sharp knife, cut meat across grain into slices about 1/2-inch thick and place on a serving platter. Ladle a little sauce over meat. Pass remainder of sauce at table. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Roast Beef Tenderloin - Sea Salt with Food
Garlic Studded Herb Beef Roast - Life's Ambrosia
Herb Rubbed Roast Beef - Phoo-d
Roast Beef 3 Ways - Food and Whine
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding - Chow and Chatter
Braised Beef Provencal - Fight the Fat Foodie
Slow Roasted Beef with Red Wine Sauce - Gourmeted

Salt Rubbed Roast Chicken

When I began to explore the possibilities of blogging, one of the first sights I discovered and tracked was Wandering Chopsticks. In addition to fantastic recipes, the site provided invaluable information on how to start a blog. I probably wouldn't be here now if it weren't for that information. I again tapped into the blog before Bob and I left for Vietnam and began our travels through Southeast Asia. I can tell you now, that in my very humble opinion, this is the best collection of Vietnamese recipes that I've ever found. What is equally delightful are the wonderful Western recipes the site contains. Though I've made the requisite changes to legally call today's recipe my own, that simply wouldn't be true. The concept and execution belong to Wandering Chopsticks. I hope you'll take a look at her recipe for Basic Baked Chicken. Since finding her recipe, I no longer brine my chickens before roasting and rely, instead, on a salt rub to provide flavor and keep the chickens moist. This is very easy to do and the best part of it is that the technique can be used for turkeys as well. I love poultry prepared this way. Here is my adaption for salt rubbed chicken. I hope you'll give it a try. I know you'll be hooked if you do.

Salt Rubbed Roast Chicken...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Wandering Chopsticks

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 teaspoon of coarse garlic salt per pound of chicken
1 teaspoon coarse cracked fresh black pepper
2 lemons, divided use
6 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Directions:
1) Rub chicken, inside and out, with garlic salt and black pepper. Place on paper toweling and sit at room temperature for one hour.
2) Squeeze juice of 2 lemons over chicken. Place lemons shells inside chicken with crushed garlic cloves and tarragon.
3) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cook chicken, breast side down, for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Turn chicken breast side up and bake for about another hour, or until skin is crisp and golden. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 to20 minutes before serving. Yield: 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Orange Phoenix Chicken with Grilled Bok Choy - One Perfect Bite
Roast Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes and Herbs - One Perfect Bite
Lemon Herb Slow Cooked Chicken - One Perfect Bite