Day 99: Last day on rabbit and osso buco – yeah!

Tomorrow, I get to play sous chef again and start prepping for a new menu.  I’ll be glad to get away from the rabbit and osso buco.

Tonight, it’s another “all in” dinner night, in an attempt to use the last of last week’s CSA box: romanesco (the green cauliflower looking thing in the picture at top); purple cauliflower; yellow carrots; rutabaga; sweet potatoes; and celery.  We have celery coming out of our ears.  Celery is really great for stocks and soups, but I’m so over trying to use it in everything just to use it.  If I have one complaint about Mariquita Farms, it’s that they go really heavy on the large bundles of celery and cauliflower week after week.  These are pretty boring vegetables for me to work with.  But, alas, they will make a delicious roasted vegetable medley with garlic and olive oil.

I’ve also been marinating lamb shoulder chops in some dijon, lemon, fresh tarragon that was also in my vegetable box, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil at room temp for about an hour.  I’m going to pan sear those in my cast iron pan a few minutes on each side and then finish them in the oven, if needed.  Here they are marinating.

I love marinating lamb in herbs, mustard, onion, salt, pepper and olive oil, as well.  It’s really super quick and very tasty.

I’m not sure how I feel about leaving my lamb out at room temp for that long, since I’m such a bacteria-phobe. My knowledge about “storing temperatures” for raw foods makes me cringe at what I’m doing, but then I’ve also read many recipes that call for marinating at room temp IF  you need to marinate something quickly (1 hour or less) vs. several hours to overnight.  I’m hoping my lemon juice will not only help to tenderize my meat, but to act as an anti-bacterial.  We’ll see later 🙂  So, I’m off to get the chops on the hot pan before I gross myself out.

One last comment, I’m pairing my roasted root vegetables and lamb with a 2007 Valduero Crianza, which is an Italian red table wine.  It’s very drinkable right out of the gate, with or without food. I really like this red. If you’re into Robert Parker ratings, it has a 90/100.  And, the price point isn’t horrible: around $25/bottle, depending upon where you buy it.