Tonight's dinner starred a 2 pound boneless hunk of leg of lamb, which I marinated for 7 hours in a mixture of bottled Italian salad dressing (about 1 cup), red wine (ditto), chopped garlic (about 5 cloves), dried rosemary (about 1 tsp.), worcestershire sauce (about 1 tablespoon), soy sauce (ditto), salt (2 big pinches of kosher salt), and a dozen or so whole peppercorns. I preheated the oven to 500° and dropped the oven temperature to 350° when I put the lamb in the oven. I roasted the lamb at for about 45 minutes for rare (okay, very rare; some of us like our lamb still twitching, okay?). Add 10 minutes if you like it more done. Best of all, we've got leftovers for a lamb hash tomorrow night.
For the risotto I used my usual short cuts. I started with a a package of Alessi Pomodori Risotto
, prepared as per package directions in my trusty Cuisinart CRC-400 Rice Cooker
. Meanwhile I briefly steamed some baby broccoli in the microwave (3 and ½ minutes in a microwave safe container with a couple of tablespoons of water). When the risotto was almost done I tossed in a tablespoon of sun-dried tomato pesto that I had in the refrigerator and the broccoli to cook for a couple more minutes.
A simple cherry tomato and micro-greens salad with a splash of sherry vinegar, EVOO, salt, and pepper finished the meal.
In my house, roast lamb calls for California cabernet sauvignon or Bordeaux. Tonight I went with a 2003 Joseph Phelps cabernet. I bought this bottle (and its 5 sisters) directly from the winery upon release and its been sitting at 55° ever since. This bottle was in stellar condition. The wine was alive, fresh, and delicious. It's color was still a pretty deep ruby with a slight suggestion of brick at the rim. Modest bouquet suggesting black fruits and cedar. On the palate, it suggested blackberry, cassis, prunes, leather, and cedar.
Grade: 92
