Roasted Leg of Lamb, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Tomato Salad

Today I was feeling like something a little special to end the week on, so I decided to roast a leg of lamb. To accompany the main meat dish, I decided to do a slight twist on the traditional mashed potatoes by making them with sweet potatoes instead of the typical russet. To lighten the dish up and help everyone get over the holiday gluttony, I made a mock caprese salad (I just dropped the mozzarella) with cherry tomatoes. Bon apetite.

Roasted Leg of Lamb
Serves 12

Ingredients:
4 lbs boneless leg of lamb
8 cloves garlic
4 sprigs mint, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cut slits in the meat and stick in the garlic.
3. Cover with salt, pepper, and mint.
4. Roast in a deep baking pan until this interior is 140 degrees F, about 20 minutes per pound.
5. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.


Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Serves 12

Ingredients:
6 large sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
2-3 cups lactose free milk
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, stem removed and minced
2 Tbs lactose free butter
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Place potatoes into a large pot and fill with water until potatoes are just covered.
2. Boil potatoes until easily pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.
3. Drain and return potatoes to pot.
4. Use a potato masher and mash potatoes, add other ingredients and continue mashing until desired consistency and flavor is achieved. The milk makes the potatoes fluffy, but too much makes them soupy, so add milk incrementally.

Tomato Salad
Serves 12

Ingredients:
4 cartons cherry tomatoes in various colors to add interest
1 package basil, stemmed and chopped
2-3 Tbs olive oil
2-3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Combine tomatoes and basil.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss to combine.
Optional: Add mozzarella cubes for more flavor and fill to this dish.

Ratatouille over Brown Rice with Heart Salad

Last night I had a dream that had a rat running around the kitchen in it and when I woke up I was inspired by the Disney movie involving an adorable rat who loves to cook. I went for one that has a bit more cohesion than some of the super stewed versions because that was what I was in the mood for. The thing I really like about ratatouille is that it is a one pot meal, plus a large bowl, and you just keep reusing the pot over and over. Be prepared to do quite a bit of chopping to prepare this dish on your own. At the store I decided that there needed to be some sort of side salad in case someone didn't like ratatouille, so I made a heart salad.

Ratatouille over Brown Rice
Serves 12

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced into half rings
1 clove garlic, minced
4 large chinese eggplants (or japanese eggplants), sliced
5 zucchinis, sliced
6 yellow squashes, sliced
6 grey squash, sliced
1 cup white wine
2 large cans chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. In a large pot, heat 2 Tbs of olive oil over high heat. Saute onions and garlic until they smell really good and the onions have changed from opaque to semi-transparent, stir constantly with a wooden spoon to avoid burning and things sticking to the bottom.
2. Set aside onions.
3. Return pot to heat, if there is anything a medium brown color stuck to the bottom, deglaze with 1/4 cup of wine (that's just a fancy word for scraping off the good stuff on the bottom of a pan using a liquid, like wine, over heat; you'll know you're done deglazing when all of the stuff has come up and the alcohol has evaporated, which means you no longer get a buzz when you slick your head over the pot) and pour deglaze over cooked veggies. If anything has burned, turn down the heat on the next batch and wash out the pot before cooking in it again.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each of the fresh veggie individually, setting them all aside together.
5. Return everything to pot and add tomatoes, reduce heat and let simmer until things start to smell and taste fantastic, about 30 minutes; salt and pepper to taste. Optionally, add herbs like rosemary, sage, or thyme to give it a more rounded taste.

Heart Salad
Serves 12

Ingredients:
3 cartons of grape tomatoes (I had one carton yellow cherry tomatoes and 2 grape tomatoes, mix it up with pretty colored tomatoes of you can), cut in half
2 cans of heart of palm, drained and sliced
2 cans of quartered artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
4 Tbs pear vinaigrette

Preparation:
1. Combine all ingredients and toss to combine thoroughly.

Polenta topped with a Mushroom, Bacon, Greens Compote

Good morning. On my hunting through the world of food porn I stumbled across the idea to make polenta, which I adore. This is great because I have a ton of cornmeal and recently made corn bread, but managed to forget to use any of the huge bag of yellow corn meal to do so. This means that I've made more of a corn mush than a traditional polenta, the difference being the grind of the meal being fine rather than corse, but I'm still calling it polenta. Because it sounds tastier.

Polenta
Makes way more than I intended for 12 people

Ingredients:
3 cups cornmeal
3 cups cold water
9 cups boiling water
4 1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:
1. Bring larger portion of water and salt to a boil.
2. Mix corn meal and equal amount of cold water together in a bowl, then add to boiling salted water.
3. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid scalding the bottom.
4. Serve immediately or pour into a pan to set.
Optionally: cool in fridge overnight, then cut into cubes and fry in butter or olive oil until golden brown.

Mushroom, Bacon, Greens Compote
Serves 12

Ingredients:
3 bags of sliced cremini mushrooms
1 carton of yellow cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
2 packages of bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch of spring onions, roughly chopped discarding whites
1 bag of Super Greens
1 cup of marsala wine
2 Tbs cornstarch mixed in 2 Tbs cold water

Preparation:
1. In a very large skillet (or multiple batches for a large skillet) over medium to medium high heat, start cooking bacon pieces until there is some grease in the pan.
2. Add the spring onion and mushrooms. Saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have started to change color.
3. Add the wine and continue cooking until the alcohol has all evaporated (put your face over the pan and inhale through your nose, if you feel a little buzz, the alcohol is still being cooked away).
4. Add the tomatoes and greens, cook until the greens have wilted.
5. Remove all of the solid stuff to serving bowl, reserving the liquid in the pan.
6. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir with a wooden or silicone spoon until the liquid thickens evenly.
7. Mix the solids and the gravy together. Serve with polenta.