Amuse Bouche

Lamb chops (lollipops) with baharat and harissa cream

Long long ago when I first married the Brit he deemed all lamb 'too fatty' and declared it not dinner material.

this statement from the man who came from fields and fields of glorious gorgeous sheep, the very land where I fell in love with both the man, and the cuteness that is baby lamb season. Country of mint sauce and mutton. How, I begged, could you not love lamb?

I have spent many hours over the years breaking down lamb legs, removing all the fell, the layer that lies between the skin and the fat that has that lanolin smell and taste, dissecting the leg into little pieces to remove every trace of fat.  I cooked it in spicy Indian curries and added it ground to burgers and meatloaf and slowly, slowly  he realised that eating lamb did not equal eating fat.

Still, when it came to the Cadillac that is rack of lamb he still grimaced and made faces. A couple times a year I would buy a rack and roast it for myself slathered in mustard and a lemony, parsley, persillade.  And smack my lips as I gnawed on the bones. 

I know, carnivore. 

My Mom and I both agree that the bone on a prime rib often tastes better than the meat itself. 

We're bone cleaners.

Finally one night years later when he was finally brave enough to eat most of the things I passed his way I made a batch of Baharat the gorgeous spice mix from the Eastern Mediterranean filled with earthy tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg, oregano and black pepper, bay leaf, cumin and clove.  I cut the rack into little lamb lollipops, cleaned as much surface fat off of his as I could without making the meat fall off the bone.

Then I rubbed it with the baharat and grilled each chop individually to his medium/well taste and my rare/medium rare taste and served it with some spicy hot harissa paste from Tunisia and damn if I hadn't finally won the battle!  Now it has become our date night dinner since a nice rack of lamb can set you back quite a few pennies.

Tonight we'll have it with some Brussels sprouts that I cleaned and blanched.  They will be crisped in some guanciale and shallots and we'll have some leftover boiled potatoes that I will sauté until the edges are all crispy.  A perfect dinner for a fall night.

Smoked Spicy Paprika Salt

I'd like to introduce you to my latest little fetish.  Sadly it is little, a mere 1.2 ounces in fact, but boy does it pack a glorious punch.

I was standing in line at John Dewar's last week waiting for my order when I spied a basket on the counter filled with these tiny little jars.  I picked one up and read the label, instantly intrigued because I adore smoked pimenton, smoked duck, smoked ANYTHING really, I smelled the jar. 

I could smell gorgeous smoke and spice through the glass jar.  I opened it up and just then Harry came round the corner with my bangers and caught me sniffing the jar like an addict sniffs a glue bottle.

My goodness this stuff smelled good!

I've used it since in a vinaigrette with white truffle oil and champagne vinegar on smoked duck breast with fresh figs and Valbresso.
I sprinkled it on my fried egg this morning.
On a garden radish with butter
Tonight it will be sprinkled on my Butter beans with olive oil and onion.
I am addicted.

The salt comes from Didi Davis Foods in Ipswich, MA.  I had not heard of them until last week, but rest assured I am sure you will hearing more from them soon with yummy things like Vanilla salt(!), Orange ginger sugar and Coffee sugar.  Imagine the possibilities.

Dry Spice Rub

This is a recipe I make in big batches and keep sealed in a glass mason jar. We sprinkle it on pork tenderloin glazed with melted hot pepper jelly, vidalia onion and fig jam and butter and then grill it. We mix it into butter to make a compound butter and then smear that under the skin of a spatchcocked chicken and grill it.
We also use it as a dry rub for ribs. I usually make a half recipe so it doesn't go stale, I give you the full recipe so you can decide. This is adapted from Emeril Lagasse's 'Real and Rustic'. I cannot stress how much fresh spices are important in this recipe. I can highly recommend all of the spices at Penzey's. They are my favourite mail order spice company and I get my Spanish smoked paprika from Zingerman's. You will find a lot of uses for this mix. Don't make me say BAM!

8 TBS paprika (I use half hot and half sweet, sometimes I replace one or twoTBS with Spanish smoked hot or sweet)
3 TBS cayenne
5 TBS freshly ground black pepper (easiest way is to put fresh peppercorns into a spice grinder or old coffee grinder that you have cleaned by whizzing up rice or bread)
6 TBS garlic powder
3 TBS onion powder
6 TBS salt (this measure is for Kosher, which is larger, if you use iodized, use less)
2 and 1/2 TBS dried Oregano
2 and 1/2 TBS dried Thyme

Mix well in a big bowl or place in mason jar and shake well.