Make it roast lamb

As television programs are doing countdowns to Christmas, let’s do our own and be aware that there’s less than two months to plan what to serve during the holidays. We suggest a piece de resistance that is different from the usual relleno and lechon. Make it roast lamb this time. Follow the roast lamb recipe here and we guarantee there will be “oohs” and “aahs” as your guests partake of a real feast.

Roast Lamb Leg Ala Private Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 leg of lamb, about three kilos

1 head garlic, crushed

15 gms dried rosemary 

One third cup mint sauce 

2/3 cup broth (preferably lamb)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp red wine

One half medium sized squash, cut into small wedges

Salt and ground pepper

Procedure:

Wash the lamb and make a few slits on it.

Rub with garlic, inserting some into the slits.

Distribute rosemary over the meat.

Pour mint sauce evenly.

Let stand for a while.

Pre-heat oven at 210 degrees centigrade.

Put the lamb in a baine marie, pour in the broth, olive oil and wine.

Roast in the oven. After half an hour, reduce temperature to 170 degrees.

Turn after top gets brown, bathe with liquid.

Add the squash.

Continue roasting until done.

Serve a light soup and a salad with the dish, as well as a light dessert. Lamb is readily available in all big supermarkets. Depending on where you get it, it costs around P700 a kilo.

We visited the Greenhills tiangge a few days ago and had coffee at Bo’s. A friend was looking for delicacies to package into gifts. While she was at it, we went around and found Uncle George’s extensive bread selection.

At Unimart supermarket, some items caught our attention: Cattleman’s honey flavored barbecue sauce at P139 for a bottle of 18 oz.; Fountain mint sauce for P102.75 for 200 gms; phad thai paste for P109.25; Clara Ole rice flavorings. Here lamb leg costs P769 a kilo.

Check out the new Crystal Jade restaurant on the VMall side. There is a long queue, but restaurant manager Jonathan knows how to please hungry diners. They serve spicy Shanghainese food.

Packing the ground beans into capsules is the latest innovation from K-System, a subsidiary of the German Krueger Group which has been in the business of coffee, chocolate and milk production for years. Through the Philippine Coffee Board, they introduced a coffee capsule machine, to be sold at less than P7,000 locally.

The capsule contains 7 gms of ground roasted coffee vacuum packed individually, placed in the machine and brewed to make a perfect espresso, cappuccino or latte. The capsule has a plastic filter that protects the aroma and ensures a creamy beverage. Each capsule can be stored for a year without losing its flavor.

The good news is they are including the home-grown barako among their blends. This could be barako’s entry into the international market place.

Interested parties (especially distributors) may log on to [email protected] or call 0908-8831218 for more information.

E-mail comments and questions to this new address: [email protected]. Ms. Castillo’s former address has been hacked. Please ignore any e-mail sent from that address.