Lamb and Latke

At 36 degrees F/2 degrees C, it's finally getting wintry cold around here. As I told a friend, I had high hopes this weekend of purging things, cleaning, cooking, and going to the gym. But nature took over to compromise, resulting in relaxation and rest, with some cleaning and cooking in between. I don't mind.

I took out a small boneless leg of lamb to defrost for roasting early in the afternoon. After consulting a few recipes online to gauge how long I would cook the roast for, I decided on 3 hours: Around 45 minutes at 350, an hour at 300, and the rest of the time at 250, then 200. I was just messing around, I don't roast a lot but wanted to see what would happen.

I prepped the surface of the roast by rinsing and drying, pre-seasoning it with powdered lemon from Yours Truly found in Japan and sent in a care package from my mother by way of Guam, pink Himalayan salt (its consistency I find subtle compared to regular table salt), and white pepper. I waited an hour or so and prepped its glaze, comprising a few mashed bulbs of garlic in the mortar and pestle and avocado oil since I ran out of olive. I basted that all over the roast, placed it into my oven-safe Calphalon pan, poured some water in, and covered over lightly with foil before putting the roast into the oven. After cooking, I removed the roast and added some whole-wheat flour and starch directly to the pan drippings, whisking them all together to form the gravy.

I was gifted some latkes and was so happy about that! I knew that the lamb would pair well with these potato cakes. And today is the first day of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, a celebration that is observed in honor of the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. When my friend came by to drop them off, I see that there are also cookies, sour cream, and homemade apple sauce. The cookies were delicious. From the outside, they looked like chocolate chip and butterscotch cookies, but they didn't taste like that. I was told that they are actually Milk Bar Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies inspired by the ones served at Momofuku in NYC, and so what I thought were butterscotch chips were actually cornflakes with chocolate chips. What? Wow, so fancy and metro, I can taste what the hype is all about from here in the suburbs. And they are delicious. Sorry, no photo, I ate them all. Too late. I might make some, though ... for a future post ;).

I want to thank Emily and her family for kindly sharing the bounty of her delicious latkes with accompanying sides and bonus cookies! I also want to thank Katie for being my lovely food delivery gal and for the parking lot laughs that I'm sure made some neighbors want to peek out their windows.

Happy Hanukkah. Happy Holidays!

Latkes, lamb roast with gravy reduction, apple sauce, sour cream

Before: Added rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil after pre-seasoning but before the garlic-avocado oil glaze

Lamb after: Not as rare as I wanted it to be but cooked and flavorful