Easter Dinner BBQ!!!!! Herb roasted leg of lamb on the rotisserie!!! With Blackberry Red Wine Reduction!!

Been a while since my last post....I think the grey skies of February got me down.    Thankfully, it is spring.....the snow is gone, the sun is making an appearance (be it brief at times), and the robins are screaming at 4 am.    Yay.   
One of my Favorite parts of spring......cleaning and prepping my BBQ for the season!!!     I don't BBQ in the winter for a couple of reasons:

1. The BBQ takes too long to come up to temperature, and everytime you open the lid, you lose it heat....which makes for longer cooking times while I freeze my ass off.
2. When it is cold out, the pressure of the propane decreases, you get a crappy flame, and it takes longer for everything to cook .....while I freeze my ass off
3. I know someone who BBQ'd in the winter, and the heat from the BBQ shattered the sliding patio door (of course, the BBQ was close to the door, because he didn't want to freeze his ass off)
4. I hate dragging snow through the house moving to and from the BBQ area, and I don't like freezing everone's ass off.
5. I don't like to freeze my ass off while cooking, especially when I look inside and see everone all warm and stuff.
6. and FINALLY......taking a break for the winter, helps me to really look forward to BBQ in the spring!!!!!!

Last year, I kept saying that I wanted to cook a boneless leg of lamb on the BBQ, but i kept chickening out....not that I cooked a chicken instead....I mean that I was in fear of ruining a nice piece of meat.   Sometimes I get intimidated, but as Danielle my awesome wife says...."Try it, and if it doesn't work.....pizza is just around the corner, and you've learned what not to do for next time."     PERFECT!!!!!

This Easter, Danielle suggested that I finally try the lamb, and that I have nothing to worry about.    So we went out and bought a nice bone in leg of lamb.....Ontario Lamb!!    Longos had a pretty good selection, although at easter time, lamb goes fast, and there were no boneless legs.    Guess I had to learn a bit of butchery too!!!   (I needed the bone removed so I could get it on the rotisserie)......Guess I could save the bone for a stock at a later date....just pop it in the freezer for now!!!

Here's what I did:

Rotisserie Boneless Leg of Lamb

1 leg of lamb, deboned. 
fresh chopped mint
fresh chopped parsley
fresh rosemary sprigs
1 clove garlic chopped up fine
salt and pepper
butcher twine (cotton)

First thing I did, was trim as much unnecessary fat from the roast.     Lamb can be very fatty, but remember that fat does add flavour.
Put all the chopped herbs and garlic in the cavity where the bone was, along with some salt and pepper.     Roll the roast up and tie with butcher twine.    Make sure you tie it nice and tight, so the herbs don't all fall out.     (if your not sure how to twine a roast.....just type it in on youtube!!)
Skewer your roast with the rotisserie, and put it on the BBQ!      Let it cook to desired tenderness.    I cooked mine to Medium Rare (145 degreesF), about 1.5 hours.      I strongly suggest using a digital probe type thermometer that gives you actual temperature....of course....stop the rotisserie before sticking the probe in!!!!

(My BBQ has the infrared (porcelan) rotisserie feature, so I had to remove the grills to make room, and put a drip pan under the roast to catch the drippings so as not to make a greasy mess in the bottom of the bbq.   I generally put a few cups of water in the bottom of the drip pan.)

NOTE** If you don't have the infrared rotisserie feature, don't worry.    Put the roast on the spit, take the grills off the BBQ, place a drip pan below the roast, and light the burners off to the side of the roast .... not directly underneath.    This indirect heating method will still give you a great roast.

While the meat cooked, I started the Blackberry Red Wine Reduction:

1 little plastic box of blackberries
2/3 cup red wine
1.5 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup fine diced carrot
1/2 cup fine dice celery
1 large shallot fine dice
1 tbsp honey
3 mint leaves
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Sweat the celery, shallot and carrot in 2 tbsp olive oil 2-3 minutes, don't let it burn or colour...you want to draw out the flavours.     Add red wine and balsamic vinegar, and reduce 2/3 untill it starts to look almost syrupy.    Add chicken stock, black berries, honey and mint.     Let cook on medium heat and reduce to a nice consistency.     (to coat the back of a spoon without running off is perfect)
Strain sauce into a bowl.   

Let the lamb rest for about 10 minutes, then slice it up on a serving tray, along with some reserved uncooked blackberries and mint leaves for decoration.     Pour the sauce into a serving dish with a small ladle and add sauce as desired ................ be prepared to cry like a baby.

Appetizers part 2 - the holidaze.....

Well, that was fast!   Christmas snuck up on us and disappeared just like that.    Not only did it leave us with good memories of family, friends, celebrating etc.....    It also left us with overstuffed bellies.     The Christmas holidays are my favorite eating holidays.    Everyone you visit, puts out all kinds of food.    Trays of cheeses, meats, pickles, egg rolls, spring rolls, pate, SHRIMP, smoked oysters, cookies.....the list goes on and on.    Of course, after we have gorged ourselves into a sleepy state of wintry holiday stuff-ed-ness, and plop ourselves onto the couch .....out comes the turkey.    Are we full?   Yes, but Christmas turkey trumps all and we shovel that in too, washed down with a nice warm mug of gravy.    zzzzzzzzzzz.....zzzzz....zzzzzz.....

This year, my cool awesome sister Kirsten came home for Christmas from Sweden, and brought me some goodies that I have to share with you all.    Kirsten thought I might have fun with a little foreign food.......although the ingredients aren't really foreign, the delivery system is.

As I unwrapped my present, like a giddy little kid......I was in complete awe at what lied before me.
Tube Food!!    Yup.....that's right , Tube food.    Like how when you were a kid and someone said "astronauts eat food from a tube", and you thought they were full of shit.

4 Tubes in all
 First one.....Shrimp in a tube.    Holy crap!   I love shrimp!   Now I love tube shrimp!
 Second.......Lobster and Crab....in a tube!    WTF !   I'm now in heaven, about to eat seafood out of a tube!                
Third.....Blue Cheese...in a tube!!!!   MUAHAHAHA!!!!!!    QUICK GET ME A CRACKA!!!!!
and finally, some sort of burger dressing......IN A TUBE!!!!

Now, you're either licking your lips, or gagging at the thought of eating seafood out of a tube in the form of a pink pasty substance.    I like to think of it as "pre-chewed" seafood.   Takes the hassle of removing the pesky shells from the meat, away.

So, what do you do with seafood in a tube?    Of course, you can put it on a cracker....that's nice.   Something a little more fancier than a saltine.    I experimented for a bit, and although I didn't have alot to work with or waste....I found something that isn't really that bad.

1 piece of toast still warm, spread on some crab/lobster paste.   Next, finely grate some marble cheddar over top, followed by a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, a little chopped parsley, and a thin layer of breadcrumbs.   Stick it under the broiler until the breadcrumb top starts to brown.   Pull it out, and cut into 1" strips.    Voila!!   Snack time!!!!

Thanks Sis!!   I can't wait to see what you bring next visit.    Hot dog in a tube perhaps?    (<<< uh...hot dogs are already tubes....)  ,   lasagna in a tube?     Oh, wait......apple pie in a tube...   no...no......chicken wings in a tube!    ............................................