Easter Feast

Ryan and I made a lamb feast 2 years ago for Easter for our friends and it was a hit, so we decided it was time to for Easter Lamb: Round 2. This lamb recipe is from Ryan's mom so it was a nice way to bring family aspect to our Easter away from home.

We needed about a 10 lb. leg of lamb for the recipe and lamb is pretty expensive, especially around the holidays. So I decided to be the meat investigator and call around to various grocery stores and butchers to see who had the best price per pound. The butcher on the west side of town was definitely the most expensive, but they probably had the better quality leg than say, Kroger who had the cheapest. In the end it didn't really matter because when we went to go out and buy the lamb and other ingredients (we were out a little late Friday night and didn't get moving right away on Saturday) and Kroger and Bigg's were both out of lamb legs. Luckily, Fresh Market had plenty of lamb legs left and we were able to get a 6 lb. leg that worked out perfect for our Easter feast.

I'm going to let Ryan take it from here, he was the chef in charge of the lamb and I of course, was the sous chef, beautifully chopping the onion, potatoes and LOTS of garlic.

What's up, its Ryan...
So the lamb recipe is my Nonna's, given to me by my mom. I remember the tender, meaty, delicious lamb every Easter sunday, usually in Florida at my Nonna's home. Basically, its a meat roast, but it puts all the pork and beef roasts ever cooked to shame. We had the butcher at Fresh Market cut the leg into one inch thick "steaks". This allows you to get that tender, delicate texture without having to cook it for 6 hours. I cut away alot of the fat from the steaks once at home.


With Erin's cutting skills we lined a large roast pan with celery as a bed, then added the meat, potatoes, a couple cans of crushed tomatoes, some garlic (a couple cloves diced, a couple whole), onion, capers (chopped), and fresh mint (this was not in my grandma's recipe). I seasoned everything with some salt and pepper and cooked the roast at 400 degrees for about 1.5 hours. While we were waiting we had some panaconzata.

It came out pretty good. The lamb was pretty tender and very flavorful. The ingredients worked awesome together. It wasn't quite as tender as my grandma's. The other slight problem was that some of the potatoes could have used a few more minutes.

We had some friends over to help us eat this feast and celebrate Easter with us. Craig brought beer, JJ made a tasty green bean caserole, and Mo a great peanut butter pie. We also made a salad. The simple oil and vinegar dressing (really it was just some cheap balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper) that I learned from my mom was a hit.

We even had an Easter egg hunt... Erin won.

Happy belated Easter. Sorry this post is so late, we have had busy week. Check back soon for more posts. I'm going to guarantee 2 posts per week!

Struggles of a White Man

Last night Erin and I had dinner at Bangkok Bistro in Hyde Park. It is a very good and always busy Thai restaurant that isn't too expensive. I am actually impressed at Cincinnati's offerings for Asian food. There are a bunch of Indian options across the city, my favorite is Ambar India in Clifton, but Erin isn't big into curry. We also have our local Chinese places: Doodles and China Gourmet. Both are a step up from a fast food place you get your Moo Goo Gai Pan that sits in a shopping center or in the food court at the mall. But those places all deserve their own posts.

My complaint is the spiciness scale. After you order your Pad Thai, Chicken Jalfrezi or General Tso's chicken, the Asian person taking your order will ask "How spicy?" They will give you a scale: 1-5, 1-10, or like the shady, yet delicious Krishna Indian restaurant across from my school, maybe the scale is 1-6. Now, I'll eat the spiciest thing you can find, and I'll love it. but, for a whole meal there is a line, I want it to be outrageously spicy, but not so much that I can't enjoy the flavors. So, my initial response is usually to go one step below the highest: 9 of 10, or 4 of 5.

Now, I'm going for that comfortable eating sweat that should accompany eating hot wings or Asian food. Yet, I'm often disappointed at the mildness of my meals from these places. So, I've been erring on the side of my tongue bursting into flames recently. Last night I ordered a 10 on a scale of one to 10 (Erin ordered a 1 for her seafood stirfry). Once again, I was disappointed. Yet, I know that these Asian cooks have the ability to bring me the spiciness I crave, so what's the deal?

My only rational conclusion: I'm being discriminated against because of my race. My friend Craig, a lover of all things spicy and Indian food particularly, is a firm believer in this theory. And I now join him. I think the people taking my order see me and think "sure, this white guy thinks he wants a 10, but he can't really handle it, we'll go easy on him." It might be even more explicit, when they go to the kitchen, it wouldn't surprise me if they say, "one chicken Pad Thai, spiciness 10, its for a white guy though."

The solution? I'm not sure. I think I'm going to stop recognizing the number system. Instead, when they ask how spicy, I'll answer "as spicy as you can make it". Or, I'll just say, "pretend you are cooking it for your father, make it that spicy". Or, I just need to make some Asian friends that I can take to dinner so I can gain legitimacy at my favorite Indian, Chinese and Thai restaurants.