justpigs

"Let's have a dinner party."

"Oh! I'll get the tongues out."

"...and the liver..."

"...and the pig's foot."

This is how conversations go at our house on the weekend. We pull a bunch of crazy stuff out of the fridge and get cooking. The pigs foot was boiled in a vegetable & white been soup, then rubbed with spices and barbequed, and finally dropped back into the soup pot for a later meal. But we ended up using the other things we pulled out of the freezer for a fantastic, fun, impromptu dinner party that lasted about four hours and fed sixteen people.

Labor Day Feast

A selection of cheeses, olives, cornichon, and sweet pickled peppers

Bread and breadsticks

Melitzanasalata with pita bread

Lamb's tongue and potato salad with salsa verde

BBQ'd larded lamb's liver

Tim's Homemade Pizzas

Margherita

Olive and Basil

Salami

Leg of Lamb marinated in Anchovies, Garlic, Rosemary and Olive Oil

Roasted potatoes

Israeli Couscous with Grilled Vegetables, Preserved Lemon, and Feta

Brownie Sundaes with Fresh Berries

Filed under // lamb menus offal pork tongue

Offal Yummy Salad

This is what happens when you go on vacation with me: I bring lamb hearts. I keep them in the fridge. I cook them and subject you to trying them. The brave and noble Valentines endured my culinary extremism about a week ago at Stinson Beach. Lucky for me, the hearts were very tasty and my friends didn't feed ME to the sharks.

I've never cooked heart before, but I wanted to try it after finding a recipe that looked great in How to Roast a Lamb. I picked up my whole lamb box plus six tongues and two hearts from Mel at Sierra Farms the day before we left for our vacation.

The hearts were easy to prepare, they were nicely cleaned by the butcher and very fresh, obviously. I simply trimmed the small amount of fat off the outside, trimmed off the very top, butterflied the hearts, and cut out a couple little internal veins. Each heart yields one small piece and two larger pieces. The meat is a beautiful dark red, like lean but tender steak.

Grilled Lamb Hearts with Crispy Fennel and Red Onion

--adapted from How to Roast a Lamb by Michael Psilakis

Serves 4 as an appetizer

2 lamb hearts, trimmed and butterflied

Salt & Pepper

1/2 large fennel bulb, very thinly sliced

1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 TBS chopped chives

1/2 dozen mint leaves, chopped

1 TBS chopped dill

2 TBS fresh lemon juice

2 TBS olive oil

Season the butterflied lamb hearts with salt and pepper and drizzle a bit of olive oil over them. Preheat your gas or charcoal grill.

Mix together the fennel, red onion, chives, mint, and dill with a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

Put the lamb hearts on the grill and cook only for about a minute on each side. Just until you get a char-mark on the outside. Let the meat rest off the grill for 2-3 minutes. They will be medium rare.

Thinly slice the hearts on a diagonal.

Mix the meat together with the cold fennel salad and add 2 TBS lemon juice, and roughly 2 TBS olive oil. Toss and season to taste.

Filed under // lamb offal

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Labor Day Feast

Offal Yummy Salad