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!

1/2 Restaurant Review: Chalk Food + Wine

This past week was Cincinnati Independent Restaurant Week. A group of Cincinnati restaurants that are locally owned and operated each offer a three course tasting menu for $25.08. It's not an incredible deal, but it was a good excuse for Erin and I to try a new restaurant in the area. She will be posting her experience separately, to talk about her choices on the tasting menu.

We considered our many choices and all the Jean-Robert restaurants sounded good. Jean-Robert is a local French chef who runs several restaurants in the Cincinnati area. Neither of us have been to any his restaurants, but he has a reputation as one of the most refined chefs in the area. His flagship restaurant is Jean-Robert at Pigall's. But, they weren't offering the restaurant week special, so we decided to go to one of his newer ventures: Chalk Food + Wine.

The concept of Chalk is comfort food with a fine dining flair. Regardless of the food and the menu, the atmosphere as you walk in to Chalk is modern and fun. The front of the restaurant is a sleek wine bar with several high top tables. We were sat in the back dining room, and got a glimpse at a small rear patio, which I'm sure would be fun in the summer. There was certainly a casual and cool feel to the menu and the wait staff, who were dressed in t-shirts and jeans. The menu was separated into familiar categories with different names: Starters, Hand Food (sandwiches), Eat Us (entrees), Friends (sides), and Sweets.

We decided on an appetizer, calamari steak prepared two ways, to supplement the modest tasting menu. The duo was a nice start to the meal. The first was more of a traditional calamari- breaded and fried with tangy tomato-based sauce. As a "steak" it was a little thicker and tougher than I like, but still great flavor. The second presentation was a salad of onion, cucumber and carrots in some sort of Asian type of sweet and sour dressing. There were some big chunks of calamari and the dish was very fresh and flavorful.

For my first course, I chose the barbecue chicken and sweet pea salad. It was as elegant as fried chicken and peas could be presented. There was a small piece of fried chicken placed on a neat pile of green peas. It was topped with a little barbecue sauce and a delicious onion ring. The highlight of the dish was a garlic puree. It was a mild, with the flavor of roasted whole garlic cloves and went really well with the peas.

My main course was lamb porterhouse. It was a small piece of lamb leg, complete with bone. It was cooked perfectly, just barely medium with a simple salt and pepper seasoning. It was served with some mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms. The natural juices of the lamb and mushrooms made for a great sauce and a hearty dish.

My dessert was a peach bread pudding. It was served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. I'm a big fan of bread pudding and it was a nice finish to the meal.

Just glancing at the regular entrees and the rest of the menu, the prices seemed very reasonable. The atmosphere was modern, but still relaxed, and it is in an underrated part of town- Covington. Great service and very good food, made for an overall very pleasant experience. I don't know if its the place to go for gourmet fair, but for your favorite comfort food with some flare at a unique place, Chalk Food + Wine is great choice.

Grade: A -