Rooftop Gourmet

After scouring the Internet for possible honeymoon destinations, an image of the Greek Islands was stuck in my head all day. A gorgeous view from a balcony, surrounded by ivory walls overlooking crystal clear waters inspired me to make some Mediterranean fare. I picked up some lamb loin chops and baby lamb lollipops from the store and brought them home to spice them up.

 The lamb lollipops come from the rack and the loin chops look like mini T-bone steaks. Grilled lamb chops really don’t need a ton of heavy seasoning because there is so much flavor in the fat and connective tissues around the bones. When that fat hits the grill and gets charred, the result is pure heaven.

 I toasted up some whole coriander seeds, which is the seed of a plant very similar to cilantro that has roots that trace back to Greece and Asia. Toasting the spices releases all of the natural oils and brings out the essential flavors and aromas. I sprinkled the chops with the coriander seeds, a few fennel seeds, and some dried chile flakes before marinating them in lots of extra virgin olive oil.

I let the chops sit, covered in the spices and oil for at least two hours to really take in all of the flavor. The coriander provides a smoky/nutty flavor, the fennel brings some anise flavor, and the chile flakes bring a touch of heat… all flavors that work nicely with lamb.

 My herb garden is overgrown and creeping up the side of the house, so it was a great time to snip off some fresh oregano and mint. With the flavors of a well dressed, Greek salad in mind, I composed a salad around the huge bushels of mint.

Lamb chops have outgrown their mint jelly from a jar companion, but still taste delicious when paired with the fresh herb. I minced up a few cloves of garlic, and shallots and combined them in a mixing bowl with the juice of three lemons and some extra virgin olive oil. I whisked it into a classic vinaigrette before I tossed in some sliced Fresno chilies (red jalapenos), pitted Kalimatta Olives, garbanzo beans, and chopped oregano.

When I think of Greek flavors, I imagine a combination of fresh, acidic, briny, and of course salty. I brought the salty element into the salad in the form of Greece’s famous cheese. Feta is a brined and cured sheeps milk cheese that is typically seen crumbled in salads.

 The feta is produced in blocks and brined and cured in a salted water. If you can, buy the fresh feta when it’s still in the water as opposed to buying it in a package. Once it’s removed from the brine it dries out quickly. At the last moment before the salad was ready to be plated, I sliced the Feta and folded it into the vinaigrette along with handfuls of fresh mint leaves.

 I piled the oily chops onto the grill and the flames began to rise. I let lamb gets a nice char on the outside before I move them out of the flame and onto a tamer side of the grill.

The toasted seeds on the exterior of the chops added some texture and wonderful licorice and woodsy aromas during the cooking process. I plated the chops “family-style” on a large platter and poured my mint and Feta salad all over them.

 A little splash of lemon zest was the finishing touch that helped wake up all the amazing Mediterranean flavors. As the chops were resting, I put a quick chill on a bottle of 2007 Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir from South Africa. I like my Pinot Noir to be served slightly below room temperature, and a good ten minutes in the fridge does the trick, especially before drinking it on the hot roofdeck.

This wine comes from Walker Bay, South Africa, which is one of the world’s most up and coming wine regions. Hamilton Russell’s Pinot is exceptionally well made and is a great food wine. Unlike fruity Oregon Pinots, this wine is big and bold, with tons of black cherry, cedar, tea and notes of Asian spices. The acidity was off the charts, which was a great compliment to my succulent lamb and wild salad. Despite the wine’s high alcohol content (14%) it was barely detectable, showing that it could put up with a few years of cellaring. The finish was full of energy, with all sorts of flavors and perfumes lingering forever.

The chops were cooked to temperature, a warm pink center, and the subtle gamey flavors were balanced with the salty Feta and the minty aftertaste. Even the slight kick from the chilies were tamed nicely by the meaty garbanzos. With a platter straight from the Greek Islands, and a beautiful Pinot Noir from South Africa, this was quite the worldly feast. If only, Greece had made it to the finals of the World Cup, hosted in Africa’s tip, this would have been the perfect fusion meal.  

Spring is finally here, and it has clearly made its point by coming in like a lion; more like a pack of lions. Only a few more days of torrential downpour and flooding before Easter brings us some nice weather. Last night I was optimistic and tried to bring the lamb a few days sooner to send out the season the right way.

 I picked up two racks of lamb from Whole Foods and brought them home to start Frenching them.

Frenching is a term used to describe cutting the meat and fat off from around the bones, making them nice and clean looking; there was no tongue kissing involved.

 I liberally seasoned the racks with salt, pepper and lots of fresh rosemary before I seared them off in a screaming hot roasting pan. I wasn’t in the mood for the typical roasted potatoes or rice pilaf to accompany my lamb so I went to the dry pantry for some ideas. I found a couple of cans of Garbanzo beans, otherwise known as chick peas, and decided to make a puree.

 I tossed the chick peas in the food processor with the juice and zest of two whole lemons which gave it a nice burst of acidity and fresh flavor. I warmed the puree on the back burner while I got everything else prepped but couldn’t help dunking some old pita chips into the “hummus” while I cooked.

As well as rosemary, fresh mint is another classic herb that goes great with lamb. I wanted to serve the lamb with a fresh Spring salad to emphasize the lightness of this Easter feast.

I tossed together some pea tendrils, fresh mint leaves, parsley, and some wafer thin radishes to create a rather interesting salad. It almost looked like something the Easter Bunny would snack on. The combination of herbs and pea shoots with the spicy radishes were very pleasing. I made a quick vinaigrette in the blender with green olives, garlic, white anchovies, Dijon mustard, and more mint.

The briny, and salty olives would be a perfect topping for the gamey lamb chops, which I threw into the oven to roast.

April showers supposedly bring May flowers so I opened up a bottle of the 2006 Flowers Perennial Red Blend from Sonoma. This magnificent wine is a blend of 75% Pinot Noir, 13% Syrah, 10% Pinot Menuier, and 1% Chardonnay. It’s fruit forward and has stunning aromas of cherry and… you guessed it… flowers. Hints of dark coffee appear in between the bursting plum and strawberry fruit. Not only was the name “Flowers Perennial Red” perfect for my Spring feast, it paired perfectly with the medium rare lamb. 

The grassy notes in the meat played well with the lemony chick pea puree and the texture of the salad was fresh and crunchy. I spooned the green olive vinagriette over the warm chops and lightly tossed the Spring mix of herbs on top of the lamb’s crown. The unique blend of grapes in the Flowers Red had plenty of acidity and is a great food wine in general, especially for an Easter feast. Hopefully the rain will cease, the flowers will bloom, and we’ll send Spring out with some lamb.

After sitting through three painful hours of football on Sunday, I needed something to cheer me up. I dusted the snow off of my grill and went out to refill my propane tank. You know you have a grilling problem when the man at UHaul says, “Damnnnn kid that tank’s got some mileage on it!”. On the way home I stopped off at the Butcher Shop in the South End and picked up some beautiful, two inch thick lamb loin chops; basically a lamb T-bone steak.

I threw the chops into a marinade of olive oil, garlic, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, and lemon juice and let them hang out for a few hours while I mentally transitioned from football to basketball season.

In the meantime, my girlfriend and I started experimenting with the shredded Parmesan-Reggiano we had in the fridge, attempting to make cannoli shells out of the cheese. I sprinkled a handful onto a silicone mat (you can get these in any cooking store, they’re called Silpats) and spread it out into a flat circle.

I baked them slowly until they were pliable but not too crispy and rolled them around the handle of my whisk; this was actually a lot easier than I had expected it to be.

I piped the cannoli shells with a mixture of lowfat ricotta cheese and chopped green olives for a slightly salty tang. On the side I made a caponata which is another Sicilian sweet and sour dish.

Caponata in its simplest form is an eggplant based side dish that is sauteed with white wine vinegar. I added bell peppers, onions, capers, and some honey to balance out the sour vinegar taste.

 Caponata is really easy to make and is great on top of fish or bruschetta. After all of the components were in the works, I bundled up and ventured out onto the deck to fire up the grill. The lamb chops were flaring up and browning a little bit too quickly so I had to stand them up vertically on the bone to let them finish.

 Just about when borderline frostbite kicked in, the lamb was medium rare and I sprinted inside to warm up. Instead of the mint jelly that is classically served with lamb chops, I whipped up a fresh mint vinaigrette to drizzle on the plate and freshen the dish up.

I brought out a bottle of the 1999 E. Guigal Hermitage from the Rhone Valley, France and decanted it to let it breath for a bit. Rhone Valley wines, especially Hermitage (which in this case is 100% Syrah) are perfect for lamb or game dishes because they’re muscular and fruity.

This bottle had some age to it which mellowed it out just a tad but the red fruit and black currant flavors were still prominent. The wine was slightly violet in color and had underlying flavors of licorice and tar that intermingled with the fresh fruit.

It was full bodied and had great acidity; the 24 months in French Oak gives it solid structure and a super rich mouth feel. This wine could have been cellared for another 10 years. It was a perfect match for this hearty winter dish but it couldn’t bring the Patriots season back unfortunately.

On Saturday, when I came home after a long day of work, I was greeted with the aromas of a holiday roast in the oven and my girlfriend who had been slaving in the kitchen all day. The house smelled amazing and I was anxious to see what she had in store for me so I asked her to open the oven. To my surprise, she removed a giant roasting pan holding a perfectly browned leg of lamb the size of a football! My first reaction was “how many people are coming over to eat this beast?”, followed by uncontrollable drooling. I love surprises and I love surprises even more when they’re stuffed with goat cheese! She had gone to the butcher and had them de-bone and butterfly an entire leg of lamb.

 Butterflying is a butchering technique that transforms thick, compact pieces of meat into thinner, larger ones with more surface area. It gets its name because the “unfolding” or the meat resembles the wings of a butterfly. She ended up at home with a piece of meat the size of a place mat and a roll of butchers twine; the next part I am glad I wasn’t around for because assembling and tying roasts is not my specialty.

She made a creamy goat cheese stuffing with apples, toasted pine nuts, and fresh mint that was to die for. Every component of the stuffing added another element to the dish; the nutty flavors from the pine nuts were great with the crisp and refreshing apples, and the fresh mint complimented the tangy goat cheese. Mint is one of those herbs that just elevates the flavor of lamb, and really brings out its natural gaminess. My grandmother still loves to eat her lamb chops with mint jelly (a classic condiment served with lamb) but I’m glad my girlfriend chose to put fresh mint in the stuffing rather than serve me something out of a Ghostbusters movie. She loaded the filling into the center of the lamb and rolled it up, tying it as she went along.

I have no idea how she did this part all by herself but somehow she managed to make it look absolutely beautiful; I’ll admit, I am a little frightened at how good she is at tying things up. She slowly roasted it in a 300 degree oven for almost two hours, and I had walked in just at the right time. Due to the fact that this leg of lamb (looks more like a leg of a linebacker) was stuffed with cheese, it was even more crucial to let it rest on the cutting board.

The internal temperature was hovering right around 140 degrees which indicates medium rare… just the way I like it. We sliced the roast and the cross section was picturesque; pink, tender and juicy meat surrounding a wallop of creamy stuffing. I inhaled about three slabs and some roasted potatoes before I started getting drowsy. I had to bring out a special bottle to serve with this masterpiece so I grabbed a 2006 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. Chateauneuf du Pape translates to “New Castle of the Pope”, and is a village in the Southern Rhone Valley France.

This wine growing region produces the best of the best from the Rhone Valley and uses primarily the Grenache grape although others such as Syrah and Mouvedre can be blended in as well. This wine is medium bodied and has aromas of sage, cedar, and dark plum. The texture of every sip is elegant and seductive with tons of peppery raspberry flavors.

Rhone Valley wines, especially Chateuneuf du Pape are classic pairings  for lamb dishes because even the wines have a slight gaminess to them. The mind-blowingly tender lamb was perfectly cooked and I could have eaten the filling with a spoon. The wine was a treat and the entire evening was exquisite thanks to the Rooftop Gourmette; no question about it, it was my turn to clean up.