Lamb Dinner

I recently made dinner for a group of friends. The menu consisted of roasted lamb with mint pesto, turnip puree, and a salad using my CSA lettuces and peas.

For the lamb, I used a Barefoot Contessa recipe. First, in a food processor, I blended 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt, 3 cloves of garlic, and 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary. I then added a half cup of dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and blended. I slathered this mixture over the fatty side of my frenched racks of lamb and let them marinate for an hour.

In the meantime I made a mint pesto in the food processor. I pureed a cup and a half of mint, 3/4 cup basil, 1/4 cup tasted pine nuts, 2 tbsp. grated parmesan, salt and pepper. I added olive oil to the mixture as necessary to help it blend and then continued to add oil until I had achieved the consistency I wanted.

I then placed them in a roasting pan (ribs curving down) and roasted them at 450 degrees for 25 minutes exactly, allowing the meat to rest for 15 minutes, before slicing it into individual ribs.












Initially, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with my turnips, but a friend and fellow chef, Dana Birke, suggested making them into a puree. This turned out to be a wonderful idea and the turnips almost stole the show from the lamb!

I peeled and diced the turnips into medium sized chunks and placed them in a pot with enough whole milk to cover them. I added a few whole cloves of smashed garlic and half a bunch of fresh thyme (stems and all ) to the pot. I let the pot simmer until the turnips could easy be pierced with a knife (about 25 minutes). I then removed the garlic cloves and thyme stems and drained the turnips, reserving the cooking liquid in a bowl. I returned the turnips to the pot and added about a cup of the liquid back into the pot. I used my immersion blender (which seems to be making quite a few appearances on this blog) to puree the turnips and milk together, adding more cooking liquid as necessary. Last, of course, I seasoned the puree with salt and pepper.

I was planning on adding quite a bit of butter at this point, but I completely forgot and no one seemed to notice.








Lastly, I made a quick and simple vinaigrette with one part acid (dijon, lemon juice, and shallot in this case) to 2 parts olive oil (extra virgin) and dressed my gorgeous lettuces with it. I shelled my peas and added them raw to the salad (almost like sprinkles!)