Flannery leg of lamb

The pressure was on. Hosting a dinner for Dick & Carollee Krueger, and Bill & Dolores Ackerman here at my home in Albuquerque. Great friends of course, but having had nothing but fabulous meals at their homes, I couldn’t mess this up. Adding to the pressure, a Bryan Flannery piece of meat. Destroying that around here would get me killed

Weather decided NOT to cooperate, so rather than dining outside (my house is more of an outside entertaining venue), we had to eat inside. Moved the grill to the other side of the house. Such is life.

Appetizers included roasted red and yellow peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, La Quicera (sp?) proscuitto, and marinated mozzarella with both roasted tomatoes and with fresh heirloom tomatoes. The heirloom tomatoes were quite tasty. I felt they didn’t cut the proscuitto thin enough this time. Wines included the NV Roederer Brut Premier, my house champagne, and a 2005 Elk Cove Pinot Rose. Both a lovely start for the evening.

Then the amuse of portebello soup with truffle salt. Finishing up the rose and moving to the syrahs. 1997 Ojai Roll Ranch and 1999 Vidal Fleury La Chatillonne Cote Blonde Cote Rotie. Neither ready but open enough with 60 minutes decanting to be very enjoyable. I have some Ojai left for tonight, all the Cote Rotie disappeared.

The main course consisted of a leg of lamb from Bryan Flannery. Marinated overnight in garlic (a bit too much this time IMHO, will cut back next time), dijon mustard, olive oil and oregano. About 6# although I didn’t weigh it myself and the packaging didn’t say. I had Bryan cut it off the bone and rewrap. Perfect. What great customer service. Cooked on direct heat on my grill. About 400-425F. Roasted fingerling potatoes on the top shelf of the grill, marinated in rosemary, oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil. And lightly grilled asparagus with Hawaiian red sea salt and my favorite balsamic vinegar. My mom would be proud, a balanced meal (don’t tell mom about all the wine!) And we should not forget the wonderful fresh bread brought by Bill. Man that guy can bake!

We opened a 3rd syrah with the lamb, 1997 Rosemount Balmoral. A bit of a tour of Syrahs for Bill & Dolores, and I’m always up for more and more syrah.

More Balmoral left for tonight as well.

The lamb had many levels of doneness. Practically perfect if I do say so myself, I might have cooked it another 10 minutes but was erring on the side of not done enough than too well done. Better this way than the other around these parts, trust me. The beauty of a slightly larger leg of lamb, and we’re talking lamb from Bryan, not mutton. (6# is the largest he has) is that people who prefer medium can get some cuts from the outside, and then as you go closer to the bone it went to medium rare, to rare. I plan to throw the lamb back on the grill now that we’ve eaten the outside and move that rare to more medium/medium-rare.

We finished with some homemade bakalava. A great friend of mine is Greek, and this was her grandmother’s recipe. No honey or other nonsense, just butter, fillo (store bought, her grandma used to make it from scratch then once she found out you could buy it, tried it and gave her approval), walnuts…

I wanted to try out a Tawny port but as the evening was drawing to a close we simply munched on the bakalava and drank a bit more syrah from our glasses.

There is nothing like having great friends over and being allowed to cook for them.

A very generous friend sent me a box of Flannery lamb for Christmas (should I mention his name?). Anyway, I’ve only had a tiny little bit of Flannery beef, but if the beef lives up to the lamb I got, it must be wonderful. I’ve done a rack and a lamb steak so far. The best I’ve ever had!

You did a rack? Say it isn’t so!

Hardy har har.

Hard to believe, eh?

Dick & Carollee Krueger, and Bill & Dolores Ackerman

Jeff - I am regularly in awe of Dick and Bill’s meals. I wouldn’t have had the guts to cook for them! My hat is off to you.

Cheryl, I knew you had registered, but it’s nice to see you posting. Loosen up those fingers and keep it up!

Deuces,

Bob

Some of my very best friends. I’m at their homes maybe 2X a month, used to be more but the weather got cold, I canot wait until spring!; they come to my place a few times a month. All great friends, all great chefs. We learn from each other (granted I learn more from them right now than they do from me as a rule), and do some amazing dinners.

If you cannot cook for your friends, who can you cook for?

I’ll also note, with all due respect Tex, that the KOM long before you assumed the title were Bill and Dick. Wholesale accounts at Neiman Ranch, doing whole carcasses, etc etc. I would put them up against anyone. Well ok, I do it better than either of them for grilling steak. I live on my patio from March-November. But I think we can just say we all do them “perfectly”. I don’t want to start a riot after all

Any left? I’ll be there in about 4 hours.

Still have most of it left.

The beef eclipses the lamb…but I am a beef eater first and foremost. That lamb is rocking good and anyone that is a fan of lamb over beef should seek out what Bryan is selling. Pretty soon all of his products will be available online with his newly refurbished website.

To me, Bryans Beef is amazing! However when I compare his beef to other high end beef, it’s close. I think his lamb to other lamb is where you see more of a drastic difference! I hope that makes sense…time for bed me thinks!