Greektown in H-Town

It's Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. Do you know where your children are? If you're children are Drew & Elizabeth, the answer is the kitchen of their apartment whipping up recipes from Ad Hoc.

While Liz was at book club Thursday night, I picked up an Australian boneless leg of lamb from Costco with the intention of making the Roasted Spring Leg of Lamb recipe. While I'm selective of what I'll buy from a big box store, the meat at Costco is actually good quality, and $3/pound cheaper than Central Market. For our devout readers, the lamb was actually certified Halal.

Halal is a set of Islamic laws governing multiple facets of life, including food. In short, the Halal certification of food is very similar to that of the Jewish Kosher certification. For meat, that means the animal was slaughtered with a long, sharp knife with one swoop across the throat severing the major arteries and removing the head.

Before starting the lamb, per a side caption recommendation from Thomas Keller, we worked on making a Tomato-Basil marmalade, also listed in Ad Hoc. Our Wusthof knife made quick work of chopping a enough onion and leeks to create a 1/2 cup of each. The original recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of fennel, but neither Liz or I care for the black liquorice taste it associated with fennel.

We tossed the onion & leek along with two thinly sliced garlic cloves with olive oil. The mix then went into our Le Creuset pan and into the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes; despite stirring every 15 minutes, some of the veggies got charred, but they were easily picked out. A 1/2 cup of light brown sugar and a cup of red wine vinegar were added to the pot and back to the oven it went for 20 minutes.

6 tomatoes from the farmers market down the street were chopped into a 1/2 inch dice and stirred into the pan & cooked in the oven for an hour and a half, with a stir every 30 minutes. After the tomato mixture was done cooking, we spooned it into a small glass bowl with a slotted spoon, layering in basil leaves and pressing the mix. This was covered and left to cool to room temperature.

We started the 4 pound lamb leg by removing much of the fat before seasoning with salt & pepper and making 10 incisions into various areas of the leg & stuffing with whole garlic cloves.

The lamb then rested an hour before cooking as it warmed to room temperature. In TK's version, he calls for rosemary sprigs to be inserted into the lamb leg, but with this being the Ad Hoc blog, that didn't happen (I also forgot rosemary at the store). The lamb then headed into a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.

While the lamb roasted, Liz worked on another Thomas Keller recipe-Smashed Roasted Marble Potatoes. Using red potatoes we picked up at the farmers market, Liz tossed them with fresh thyme, salt & pepper, and olive oil.

After the potatoes were well coated, they went into our cast iron skillet in which 2 tablespoons of butter was melted. After the lamb was done cooking and resting for an hour, the potatoes went into the oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. After the potatoes were soft and cooked, Liz removed the potatoes, lightly smashed them with a meat mallet, heated oil and butter in the the cast iron skillet, and fried them until the skins were crispy.