Thanksgiving Plans

My family has a tradition of cooking Duck a l'Orange for Thanksgiving, but since this is the first year I can remember when I'm not working the last Thursday in November, Rick and I decided to do our own. Here's the plan, and afterwards I'll post the (hopefully non-disastrous and non-food-poisoning) results.

First, leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic, served with a port wine rosemary sauce. The rosemary I planted in our front yard is sourced from Jesus's own garden and actually almost smells like dark chocolate to me. Being from Jesus's rootstock, I think it's appropriate for the lamb.

On the side will be a spinach-artichoke casserole, roasted root vegetables, and something else.

For the dessert, I found this recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding (thanks Kitchen Witch! Hopefully it doesn't make us behave like grumpy old men!) which I plan to top with icing laced with whiskey.
borrego (illustration by 6 yr old me)

The interesting part is the lamb, which I bought from the carniceria where the butchers no habla inglese, so I searched lamb on the interwebs and asked them for la pierna de cordero, except I said cordoro, and additionally Rick says I sound like an Italian mobster when I try to speak Spanish. Too much accent. In any case, they understood me (after me and 3 butchers made sure I said "lamb" and not "ham") and gave me borrego. I'm also pretty sure they gave me some insults, judging by the laughter and joking amongst the butchers. But hey, 7 lbs of bone-in for $15? Plus a bag of produce for $4? I'll weather the embarrassment being laughed at, if in fact I was.

According to another interweb check, borrego is yearling lamb or maybe just sheep. So my move to be all support-your-local-butcher-austin-granola-extra-crunchy may actually lead to some tough chews, but hopefully not. Now to debone a leg and make my own stock!!

Comments

Jayne said…
Oh, your menu sounds fabulous!! I LOVE lamb!!! Oh, and a whiskey-laced icing sounds perfect - for grumpy old men and everyone else.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

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