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Our Easter Dinner: Lamb Sans Mint

This recipe is from an ancient newsgroup circa 1988 before the internet was used as it is today.  The newsgroup was called all.gourmand.  :) 

Bill has made it almost every year for Easter since 1996.  May God bless you this Easter!  Alleluia, He is Risen!

From Steven McGeady (who posted his recipe on the newsgroup those many years ago):

Lamb Sans Mint

"I devised this recipe after being unable to find an appropriate recipe in the library.  It is always well-received, and it looks impressive far out of proportion to its difficulty.  Because it is simple and difficult to screw up, it is perfect as the centerpiece for a meal with a large group or with complex side dishes.  Serve with a hearty rice pilaf and a vegetable. "

Serves 4-6 (really more in our family).

1 leg of lamb, butterflied and trimmed

6 TBSP rosemary (we have used fresh and dried--either is fine)

4 TBSP freshly ground black pepper

6 TBSP green onions, chopped

4-5 cups burgundy wine

2 cups olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 TBSP oregano

1 TBSP thyme

1 cup onion, chopped (red or yellow)

Carefully trimming the fat from a butterflied leg of lamb, and finish the cut, as needed, so that the lamb lies flat in a butterfly shape.  A large butterflied leg of lamb should be no more than 2-3 inches thick.

Take a liberal amount of rosemary, crush it, and rub it into the lamb.  When crushing it, don't turn it into dust, just break it.  Sprinkle some black pepper on the cut side of the meat.  

Combine the remaining ingredients (wine, green onions, olive oil,, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, thyme and onion) into a marinade.

Place the lamb in a shallow dish or bowl, cover as much as possible with the marinade, and store in the fridge, covered, for 4-24 hours.  Turn at intervals to marinade evenly.

Grill over mesquite and charcoal on a grill with a tight-fitting lid, such as a Weber.  Cook on one side for 25 minutes, occasionally spooning leftover marinade onto the uncooked side, then turn and cook about 20 more minutes.  

Make a small cut in the thickest part of the lamb to check for doneness:  when the center is still pink, but not raw, take the lamb off and prepare to serve.  Remember that the lamb will continue to cook after you take it off the grill.

Serve the lamb cut-side down (pretty side up).  Garnish with uncooked green onions.

Notes:

Your butcher can butterfly a leg of lamb for you.  Tell him you will be cooking it flat, and not rolling it back up into a roast.  Ask him to be careful.

ETA:   Here is the lamb butterflied by dh on Easter Sunday last year at about 12:30 am.  :)  He has just finished rubbing in the fresh rosemary and spices.  It is about to go in the marinade.  I will post the "after" picture later after we finish ours for this year...

Easy Chocolate Caramel Turtles

Three years ago when I was doing Weight Watchers during the holidays, my WW leader told us sweet-deprived dieters about these turtles.  They are super easy to make, yummy and only one WW point...:)

You need:

a bag of mini pretzels

1-2 bags of Rolo candies (depending on how many turtles you want to make)

pecan halves

Place pretzels on a cookie sheet--as many as you can fit.  Place rolo on center of each pretzel (the kids are always happy to unwrap them for me--this is great since that part always takes the longest!).  Put in your oven at its lowest temp (for mine it is 170 degrees) and put pretzels in oven for about 4 or 5v minutes--until the rolo begins to look like it is soft but not melted...Then, remove the sheet from oven and press a pecan half on top of rolo, pressing down to flatten.  Repeat until done!  Let harden on cookie sheet (takes at least an hour) and store in airtight container.  

Easy breezy lemon squeezy as my 6 year old would say!   :)

Best Fudge in the whole wide world

I make this every Christmas to give as goodies to friends and family. I was looking for another recipe and came across this one...time to add it to the blog. I really want to make it today (I can't find any good chocolate in the house!).

Creamy Fudge

(makes about 2 lbs.) but known to put on more than that to our thighs and
other problem areas.

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 cups (1 1/2 12 oz. packages semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil. Combine crumbs, sugar and margarine; press firmly on bottom of prepared pan. Bake 8 minutes. Cool. In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Remove from heat; stir in cheese until well-blended. Stir in nuts. Spread over prepared crust. Chill 2 hours or until firm. Lift fudge from pan onto cutting board; peel off foil and cut into squares. STORE COVERED IN REFRIGERATOR.

Prep time: 15 minutes