Easter Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

With Easter approaching rather quickly, I thought it would be nice to offer up a simple recipe for roasting a leg of lamb.

Ingredients:

- 1 (approx 5 lb.) leg of lamb with the bone in from New Zealand (or from a local farmer).  Generic Canadian lamb, in my experience, has tasted and smelled quite gamey.
- 2 medium sized yellow onions roughly sliced
- 1/2 a bunch of celery
- 1/2 a cup of olive oil
- Fresh Rosemary and dried rosemary
- 6 cloves of garlic
- Dried oregano on the branch (regular oregano is fine also)
- Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions:

First, make an aromatic bed by placing the onions, celery and fresh rosemary sprigs in a roasting pan big enough to hold the lamb.  Next, make six 1/2 inch deep incisions in the leg and insert a garlic clove in each one.  Then, coat the lamb with the olive oil and season well with the oregano, rosemary and salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 325'F.  Place the leg of lamb on the bed of aromatics and cook for 1 hour.  Then turn the pan around and cook for 1 hour more.  Finally, remove the lamb from the oven and cover with aluminum foil and let rest for at least 45 minutes.  Should feed 4-6 .

With Love,

Theo

Top 5 Favourites

Due to having way too much time on my hands, I've been compiling a list (not that you care, but I'm going to tell you anyway) of favourite things to shove in my mouth. And yes, that is exactly what I do with my most favourite edible delicacies.  I shovel heaps of whatever it is into my yap as if nobody's watching.  It is shameful, I know.  I think it's the neanderthal part of my brain that directs my mouth to take the biggest bite possible because there maybe a shortage of wooly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers in the area and I will starve to death.  

In no particular order my top 5 favourite dishes are:

1 New York Cheesecake. Plain

2 Bbq Pork. In any fashion (on the rib, pulled, or chinese)

3 Dynamite rolls or shrimp tempura rolls. Sans mayo

4. Spicy Pho

5. Smoked meat sandwich on a rosemary and rock salt bagel from Siegels bagels

This list may change without notice. 

What are your top 5 faves? Send them to me.  I want to know. 

With Love,

Theo

Beans and Weeds

My challenge here is to convince you how lovely a simple bowl of beans can be.  This dish is tasty, satisfying, and loaded with nutrition.  It's also, with varying versions, a staple in many countries around the world.  This one in particular is commonly eaten in Greece and Cyprus. 

Another great thing about this dish is there are no boundaries with the ingredients.  You can use just about any kind of bean and many different healthy vegetables that perhaps you never thought of using before.

Ingredients: 

- About 3 cups of Black eyed peas

- Beet greens from six beets cut into 3 inch pieces and washed

- 1 red onion diced

- 1 handfull of flat leaf parsley chopped

- Olive oil

- Fresh lemon

- Salt

Directions:

Fill a large pot with water, set to boil and season with salt as if you were cooking a box of pasta.  Add the beans and cook until they are tender, removing impurities from the surface in the meantime.  You may need to add more water at times due to evaporation. Once the beans are cooked, add the greens, cook for another five minutes and remove from the heat.  The dish is done.

Mix the onion and parsley together for garnish.  Dress each serving with a generous drizzle of olive oil and squeeze half a lemon.  Let each person add their own salt and garnish to their own liking.

Beet greens actually have more nutrients than the beetroot itself containing large amounts of iron, calcium, and vitamins A and C.  Beans of course, have lots of fibre, protein, minerals and vitamins.  Enjoy a bowl of beans and weeds and you will feel -I quote my father.."Strong like a bull". 

Possible bean varities to use:                                           

- Navy beans

- Northern beans

- Small white beans

- Black eyed peas

- Broad beans

Possible leafy vegetable varieties to use:

- Swiss chard

- Beet Greens

- Dandelion Greens

- Amarinth

- Kale

- Endives

With Love,

Theo