Dearest Readers,
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. For those non-American readers of this little corner of the universe, this is a day set aside each year for those of us who live here to spend about four days in total gluttony and allow ourselves to be sucked into shopping for bargains for the upcoming Christmas holiday gifts we so desperately have to buy.
The last few years I have cooked the Thursday meal for my father, brothers, and errant friends who don't really have a family, live too far from family or just simply like my cooking better than their mom's. The traditional dish of domesticated turkey does not really appeal to me. I do like turkey in general, but it's never as satisfying as it looks like in those Norman Rockwell paintings.
So in my traditional going-against-the-grain policy, I usually cook lamb for the giving of thanks. I started with a simple marinade of crushed garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper and then threw it in the fridge to think about what it had done. I actually made two small legs. This year they were named Mary and Joseph. Here they are getting marinated:
Mary was a boneless 2.5 pounder while Joseph was a partial bone-in at about 3 pounds. I also do a roasted sweet potato, garlic, onion and mushroom dish that kicks a great deal of holiday ass. There was some slight overkill here as I cooked for the number of gluttony participants from last year, forgetting that there would be significantly fewer people at my table this time around.
The veg is easy. I take the above mentioned roots and fungi, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and add Italian seasoning (it's pretty much the Big Foot of flavoring dishes). Here is the post aftermath of prep:
Yes, that's four roasting dishes of veg. When all was said and done, I fed my family, spent time with those I love most in the world and had people around me the day after what will henceforth be known as "that really bad night" which is a post in and of itself. Just not ready to speak of it. For those of you reading in the Great 50, I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. For those who don't, you really need to move to a country which allows you to release your inner hog. As always, dearest readers, your humblest of servants.
BKoM
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. For those non-American readers of this little corner of the universe, this is a day set aside each year for those of us who live here to spend about four days in total gluttony and allow ourselves to be sucked into shopping for bargains for the upcoming Christmas holiday gifts we so desperately have to buy.
The last few years I have cooked the Thursday meal for my father, brothers, and errant friends who don't really have a family, live too far from family or just simply like my cooking better than their mom's. The traditional dish of domesticated turkey does not really appeal to me. I do like turkey in general, but it's never as satisfying as it looks like in those Norman Rockwell paintings.
So in my traditional going-against-the-grain policy, I usually cook lamb for the giving of thanks. I started with a simple marinade of crushed garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper and then threw it in the fridge to think about what it had done. I actually made two small legs. This year they were named Mary and Joseph. Here they are getting marinated:
The veg is easy. I take the above mentioned roots and fungi, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and add Italian seasoning (it's pretty much the Big Foot of flavoring dishes). Here is the post aftermath of prep:
BKoM
