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.

Make your own Mia Dona

I don't know if any of you have eaten at Mia Dona, but if you're in the 50s or 60s on the East Side with a craving for good Italian, go! They've changed the menu a little bit, but it's still delicious, and it's not expensive. On the old menu they had a ricotta gnudi which was absolutely delicious. Gnudi is like gnocchi, only much lighter. In one cookbook, they say gnudi is the filling of the ravioli with no wrapper, so it's nude. Luckily for us, Michael Psilakis loves to share his recipes and I found this particular gnudi recipe on Epicurious. It's a litte more time consuming than most pastas, but it's definitely worth it and it's very impressive for dinner. The dash of truffle oil makes it extra luxurious and the sauteed procsuitto makes me want to switch out my weekend bacon for this extra crispy treat. Here's the recipe:


Gnudi

• 1 pound fresh ricotta cheese*

• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese (about 1 ounce) plus additional for serving
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Large pinch of ground white pepper
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour plus additional for coating

Sauce and garnishes

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 6 thin prosciutto slices
• 12 whole fresh sage leaves

• 2 pounds fresh wild mushrooms (such as crimini, oyster, and stemmed shiitake), sliced
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 6 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
• 2 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon black truffle oil*
• 1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) chilled butter, diced

• *Available at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets.

For gnudi:
Line medium bowl with several layers of paper towels. Spoon ricotta cheese into bowl. Let drain at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
Beat egg, 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and white pepper in large bowl to blend. Mix in ricotta. Sprinkle 3/4 cup flour over and stir gently to blend. Cover and chill dough 1 hour. Do ahead Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.
Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Place some flour in bowl. For each gnudi, gently roll 1 heaping teaspoonful of dough into ball. Add to flour; toss to coat lightly, shaping into short log. Place on baking sheet. Do ahead Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover; chill.
For sauce and garnishes:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large pot or extra-large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 prosciutto slices. Cook until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels. Repeat with remaining prosciutto. Add whole sage leaves to pot; sauté until crisp, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to paper towels.
Heat remaining 4 tablespoons oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add all mushrooms, shallots, thyme, and chopped sage. Sauté until mushrooms brown and liquids evaporate, about 12 minutes. Transfer mixture to bowl. Add broth to same pot and boil until slightly reduced, scraping up browned bits, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon truffle oil and mushroom mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. do ahead Sauce can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
Cook gnudi in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, rewarm sauce. Add butter; toss until blended. Using strainer, transfer gnudi to pot with sauce. Toss over medium heat until sauce coats gnudi. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to large shallow bowl. Crumble prosciutto over. Top with sage leaves; serve with additional Pecorino.


Good luck!