Grilled Rack of Lamb

These lamb chops are fantastic! The flavors are so great, and it's really simple. I took the ingredients from this lamb rib recipe and converted it for a rack of lamb (basically just changing the cooking time/method). Can't wait to make it again. The vinegar baste adds a great tang, and I love pomegranate molasses with lamb for a sour sweetness. The sugar in the rub adds a crispy, flavorful crust when charred. It only needs an hour at room temperature to marinate in the spice rub, so it's a great weeknight dinner or pretty easy weekend dinner party meal. 

Ingredients:

1 rack lamb chops

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp kosher salt

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Frersh Garganelli with Tangy Lamb Ragu

This is such a flavorful, hearty pasta - perfect for cold weather. Your house will smell amazing. I love using balsamic vinegar in braising. It adds such a nice flavor. I made the garganelli, but you can use rigatoni too. 

Ingredients:

1 lamb shank

1/2 cup flour

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 large onion, diced

1 small leek, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped 

1 celery stock, finely chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

Marinated Lamb with Cilantro and Honey

Wow. This marinade is incredible. I wanted to just drink it. It involved almost everything you have in your kitchen and ends up costing a fare amount in herbs, but the end result warrants the effort. It's meant for rack of lamb, but my butcher was out so I used lamb chops. Still delicious! I wish I'd saved the extra marinade to marinate everything else.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 lb rack of lamb, French trimmed (or several lamb chops)

2/3 oz flat-leaf parsley, leaves and stalks

1 oz cilantro, leaves and stalks

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 oz fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

3 chilis, seeded

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup canola oil or sunflower oil

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

4 tbsp water

NY Times Lamb Sausage with Grilled Onions

I made this a few weekends ago and it was a huge success. I love lamb, and the sausages have such great flavor. With fresh lettuce, grilled onions, good tomatoes, and the spice dressing all topped with cilantro, it's an excellent summer dinner. It was supposed to have zucchini, too, but I totally forgot to buy zukes. Turned out great anyway!

Ingredients: 
For sausage

3 pounds ground lamb, or a mixture of half lamb and half beef or veal

2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds

2 teaspoons toasted coriander seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

6 allspice berries

2 teaspoons salt, more as needed

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Pinch cinnamon

4 tablespoons mild paprika

8 large garlic cloves, smashed to a paste

Pomegranate-Garlic Lamb

This is delicious and pretty easy and impressive for a dinner party. We had our very good friends, Stephen and Kara, over last night to test out the new china. It was all very grown up. Thank you to all of our great friends for getting us all of those amazing candlesticks, plates, platters, vases etc - they will all be well used!

I've been making lamb a lot lately, using pomegranate molasses. It's a great ingredient. It's tart and sweet. I got two racks or lamb from Trader Joe's (they actually have really nice, Frenched racks of lamb) and marinated them in a mixture of pomegranate molasses, lots of garlic, some fresh ginger, and some dried herbs. The lamb was juicy and so flavorful.

I served it with some sauteed asparagus and Israeli couscous.

Cider-Glazed Lamb Chops and Buttery Cauliflower Puree

When Jamie started eating these lamb chops, he immediately demanded, "Are you going to put this on the blog? Will this be on the blog?" Needless to say, he loved them. They were so tender and tangy and just delicious. The reduced ginger-garlic-cider-soy-vinegar glaze is complex and sweet and salty and has a great zip from the vinegar. The cauliflower puree is a little sinful, but wow is it good. It's light and fluffy and rich.

Lamb Chops (from this recipe) it's supposed to serve 4 people, but Jamie and I ate it all
Ingredients:

1 cup apple cider

2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger

2 tablespoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)

1 tablespoon honey

8 rib lamb chops (3/4 inch thick), cut from 1 rack

1 scallion, finely chopped

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, boil cider, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and honey until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 10 to 12 minutes, and cool. Preheat broiler.

Mexican Feast from Truly Mexican by Roberto Santibanez

Jamie got me an amazing Mexican cookbook for Christmas - Truly Mexican by Roberto Santibanez. We decided to try it out this weekend and have a few friends over for a Mexican feast. It was great! And in the process, I found the coolest spot to source all of the harder-to-find Mexican ingredients (dried peppers, corn flours, big, ripe tomatillos...) It's a stall in Essex Street Market called Viva Fruits and Vegetables. I went a little overboard and bought a bunch of things, including masa tamale flour and lard, so there may be tamales featured on here in the not so distant future.

We had chilaquiles to start along with freshly made tortilla chips and three great salsas - roasted tomatillo with toasted chipotle powder salsa, roasted cherry tomato salsa, and spicy pineapple salsa. For the main course, we had an adobo braised lamb, shredded up perfectly for tacos. It was delicious.

Roasted Butterflied Leg of Lamb

This year for New Year's we decided to have a few friends out to Southampton for the weekend for a low key celebration. To make it special, I wanted to make a really great dinner. I started with Prune-Stuffed Gnocchi with a Foie Gras-Madeira Glaze and then for the main, Michael Psilakis' Stuffed Lamb recipe and some green beans. For dessert, we did a make your own ice cream sundae - always a big hit. It was a delicious and special dinner and a really fun night. The lamb was savory and had great Mediterranean flavors. The spread you make to rub into the middle of the lamb is extremely tasty - I could have eaten it straight. If you have the time, definitely do it the night before and let it air dry in the fridge. It makes such a great, crispy sear. Also, the broth under the lamb as it roasts smells heavenly.

Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
For the stuffing:
1 1/2 cups large sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/4 cup oil-cured black olives, pitted
1 tsp minced rosemary
leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tsp dry Greek oregano
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
10 cloves of garlic, mashed into a paste
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Herb-Marinated Lamb Chops with Purple Cauliflower Puree

While all of the summer veggies were dried up and Tim Burton-esque in my garden, the herbs were actually thriving - especially the mint. There was a ton! I brought a big bag of mint (along with two smaller bags of oregano and lavender) back into the city and was craving lamb chops. I made a tasty, herby marinade for a few little grocery store lamb chops and cooked them on the grill pan and they were incredible! Such great flavor, and an interesting twist on traditional mint jelly with the chops. I also had some leftover purple cauliflower, so I made a puree. Looks a little like play dough, but I think could look very cool under a piece of salmon or something. Maybe with a pesto swirled around. Yum!

Lamb
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 big tbsp fresh oregano
2 cloves garlic

Lamb Kofte with Yogurt Sauce and Muhammara

I wanted to make a healthy dinner as Jamie and I have been going out a lot lately (baseball games, concerts, etc). I can't complain, because we had an awesome weekend/week, but I wanted some veggies. I searched Epicurious for a healthy main course and this came up. Not so heavy on veggies, but I served it with a Greek salad at the end. It was super tasty and not too difficult. A little more labor intensive than a regular week night meal, but all in all it took about an hour, so not bad. And it was delicious! (So were the leftovers I had for lunch.) The yogurt sauce is mild, but a nice, cool accompaniment. I like the way the tahini makes the yogurt thicker and more earthy. The muhammara (first time making it) was really tasty. I'll probably add more red pepper flakes next time. And I would probably roast my own peppers - the jarred peppers make it a little acidic. Also, it made me buy pomegranate molasses which I can't wait to experiment with. It taste like a sour candy, and I love sour candies! I want to make drinks with it. More on that later! Here's the recipe for these tasty kofte and their delectable sauces.

Muhammara (from this recipe on Epicurious)

Sample Sales

Everyone wants to find that perfect outfit to wear to all the Christmas parties. If you're anything like me, you're hoping to find a deal. Until the Bergdorf's amazing shoe sale--which fills up my shoe quota for most of the year, got great Prada and Miu Miu shoes last year for less than $300 each!--here are some sample sales to tide you over...

Mara Hoffman and Isabella Fiore
42 Greene St 2nd Floor
Thursday, November 19th 10-8
Friday, November 20th 10-8
Saturday, November 21st 10-7


Steven Alan
87 Franklin St (between Broadway and Church)
Thursday, November 19th 8:30am-8pm
Friday, November 20th 8:30am-8pm
Saturday, November 21st 12pm-7pm
Sunday, November 22nd 12pm-5pm


L.A.M.B.
42 Greene St 2nd Floor
Tuesday, December 1st 10-8
Wednesday, December 2nd 10-8
Thursday, December 3rd 10-7


Autumn Cashmere
231 West 39th, 9th floor, suite 924
December 1st-4th 9am-7pm
December 7th-11th 9am-6pm


Twinkle by Wenlan
545 8th Avenue, 17th floor
Wednesday, November 18th 10am-7pm
Thursday, November 19th 10am-7pm


Lela Rose
224 West 30th St, 13th floor
Wednesday, November 18th 10am-7pm
Thursday, November 19th 10am-7pm
Friday, November 20th 10am-5pm


Christian Lacroix
260 5th Ave
Wednesday, November 18th 10am-7pm
Thursday, November 19th 10am-7pm
Friday, November 20th 10am-7pm
Saturday, November 21st 10am-1pm


Rebecca Minkoff
17 West 17th St
Wednesday, November 18th-Sunday, November 22nd 10am-8pm


Araks Lingerie
137 Grand Street, 5th floor
Thursday, November 19th 8:30am-7:30pm
Friday, November 20th 9:30am-6:30pm



Maybe you'll even get a little Christmas shopping out of the way--who are you kidding, you know you'll keep it all. Remember to get there early to beat the other discount-crazed sample shoppers