Lamb and Pie

We had friends over for dinner last night. The main course was a one-pot wonder dish: leg of lamb roasted OVER a gratin of potato, onion and tomato - the lamb juices drip down onto the gratin. [The recipe is from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking.] The trick is to figure out how to suspend the lamb over the gratin...luckily we have a roasting pan with a rack that can be tricked into hanging off the edges in just the right way. The little knob in the photo is the very end of the leg; it was too long to fit on the rack AND the butcher had cut it part through there, so off it came to be roasted alongside - waste not, want not! The lamb was local, from Hemlock Hill Farm.

For dessert, I made an apple/cherry pie, using apples and sour cherries that were in the freezer. The crust was made with butter and lard (about 1/4 lard), and with a half and half mix of white flour and King Arthur white wheat flour. I like using that white wheat flour...I'm happy to be adding some whole grain into things, and if the ratio of white to white wheat stays better than 3:1, the white wheat is fairly imperceptible. Using it 1:1 in the pie crust meant a sturdy, nutty, crunchy crust - delicious! Miss M. was caught picking pieces of crust off the leftover pie this morning.

It was a lovely meal.

[Edited to add: link to the lamb recipe]