One of my favorites

[Dave Grubb]

Tonight for dinner (5 total) I am roasting three racks of lamb. The lamb will be coated with a "paste" of Grey Poupon, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary and minced garlic, roasted at 425 F to an internal temp of 130-135F.

For my queen and one guest I will make chicken thighs. I chose the chicken since I have an ultra easy way of preparing it that does not need the oven or my attention. I cut along the bone on the flesh side but not all the way through the skin on the other side. That lets it open up and cook more evenly. I then place them skin side down in a med hot cast iron skillet on a few drops of olive oil, cover and walk away for about 15 minutes. Don't move them and don't turn them. They will cook perfectly with a crispy skin and not stick to the pan. Sometimes I sprinkle the skin side with flour---other times I skip that.

That will be accompanied by Colcannon---Irish mashed potatoes with 1/2 and 1/2, raw eggs and butter, plus green onion tops and Italian parsley, stirred in after mashing---who knows---I might even toss in a little fresh spinach I eyed in the refrigerator this morning.

The vegetable; roasted cauliflower with onion, shallot, garlic, muffuletta salad, capers, mint, fresh sage, Italian seasoning and caraway seed---drizzled with garlic EVOO. Normally I would use 450F for the lamb but the 425 F is a compromise from the 400 F I would normally use for the cauliflower.



The appetizer---wild Alaskan home smoked salmon from a friend in Wasilla

[Dave Grubb]

Dinner was a success----the lamb turned out perfect. As it turned out 4 of us had lamb and only my wife ate the chicken. The four of us ate 2 racks (4 ribs for each person) in total---there is still one rack left over in the frig. I took it out of the oven at an internal temp of 135 F.