Lamb. The GOOD News and the BAD news!

I recently read a good online article at 'COPYBLOGGER': "4 Ways to Keep Your Lifeless Blog from Boring Your Readers to Tears." It inspired me to try a few new tricks to keep myself, and my HOARDS of faithful readers, always coming back for MORE Cathy Eats!

Boneless Shoulder of LAMB!!

I made a boneless shoulder of lamb for dinner last night. I have never cooked this cut of meat before, and am pleased to report that it tasted wonderful!
I found a recipe by Trish Magwood via Food Network Canada, and as always, made some alterations.( google: boneless lamb shoulder)

I had no onion
I didn't have 24 hours to marinate it...I only had 2 hours.
I had only about a quarter of a lemon's worth of juice.(I found more lemon in the fridge after the lamb was cooked!)
I used fragrant buckwheat honey from Chilliwack, and it was brilliant!
I had no fresh Rosemary...so I used dried Oregano.

The recipe was for a 5 lb piece of meat. Mine was 1 and 1/4 lbs...and I cooked it only 15 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees...PERFECTLY medium rare!

Apartments and HIGH HEAT SEARING!( Why I NEED a BBQ!)

I live in an apartment, and have a galley kitchen, with no window, and a kind of wimpy hood fan. When I find a recipe that recommends SEARING meat on the stove top...all I can think is that my whole apartment will smell like that meat for the next 24 hours...even with the fan on high, and the patio door wide open. So I have to be creative! I thought I was being super smart by pre-heating my oven to 450degrees, with one of my non-stick sheet pans in there to get nice and hot. When the oven was up to temperature, I placed my meat on the hot sheet pan, and closed the oven door. 12 to 15 minutes later, after turning the meat over once...I took the meat out of the oven and covered it with foil to rest until the P-Man got home. Remember the delicious honey, I used in the recipe? Well, this morning, it was attached to that sheet pan like fur on a cat! I tried to soak and scrub...but in the end, scraped off most of it with a butter knife, washed the pan, and placed it in the bag for the Salvation Army.

Next time I will use tin foil...