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.

Homemade Ricotta

I found the easiest, fastest way to make homemade ricotta! It might sound daunting, but it's actually super easy and totally worth it. It tastes much creamier and fluffier than store bought ricotta, and it's better for cooking because it doesn't have gums and stabilizers put in. It only lasts a few days in the fridge, but if you have an experience like mine, it'll be gone before you have a chance to pop it in there. (We ate it with wheat thins, salt, and truffle honey with cracked black pepper - amazing appetizer!) The whole process takes about 40 minutes.


Ingredients:
1 qt whole milk
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp distilled vinegar

Directions:
In a glass bowl, mix together all ingredients. Put in the microwave for 5-10 minutes, checking periodically to see if it has curdled. Once it has curdled (the whey will look yellowish and there will be curds floating), gently pour it into a very fine meshed strainer. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, longer if you'd like a dryer consistency. And that's it! Salt it if you'd like, or use it in desserts.