Rosemary lamb

For once I may have beaten the Minimalist to a delicious idea.

In todays NY Times Dining Section, a video shows Mr. Bittman skwering chunks of lamb with rosemary sprigs-- something I trumpeted last fall in our local Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after a trip to Tuscany.

Tuscany is famous for its huge grilled porterhouse steaks. I went the other way and grilled tiny ones-- lamb loins, which are are the same cut. (Bittman grills shoulder, but cubes of leg meat would work equally well.)

Trader Joe's stocks frozen Australian lamb loins-- usually 3 to a pack, running about $7. They're easy to debone-- you end up with two pieces from each (though the smaller of the two is quite small). If you don't feel like grilling them you can saute them as little lamb medallions. You can make a little lamb stock from the bones.

I worked in a Pittsburgh restaurant once, featuring a two-time "Chef of the Year," and they'd purchase whole legs of lamb from local Elysian Fields-- same lamb used by Keller at French Laundry and Per Se.

I was stunned to see the kitchen discard the leg bones after boning the legs out! No kitchen worth its weight should ever waste such potential flavor and nutrition.

I asked for, and received, the bones, which made lots of stock at home. So much that it moistened Toby and Django's dry food for some time to come.

Toby

Django