The Lamb of God vs. the Ham of God

Easter dinner.

It seems to be traditional for both religious and non-religious families and why not since the celebration pre-dates Christianity.

I won't get into the history of the Easter Egg (google Nimrod and his lost body parts for the story on that one) but let's talk about ham vs. lamb.

The eating of the pig dates back to the goddess Istar (pronounced Easter) who required that the seasoned leg (ham?) be eaten because her son Tammuz was killed by a pig.

All good pagans should therefore eat ham.

I am in the lamb camp. To me a roast leg of lamb makes for a very special meal and with this marinade you might find that even the "I don't like lamb" camp changes their minds.

40 chopped garlic cloves
1 red onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons salt
2 cups of lemon or lime juice

Rub garlic and spice mix onto the lamb getting garlic into every crevice. Put into a plastic bag with the juice and squeeze out all the air so the lamb is immersed. Marinate from one to three days.

Remove meat from bag and let rest at room temperature for at least one hour before roasting. I like it rare to but use a thermometer and roast to your desired temperature.

CousCous with apricots and almonds

I want to announce to my loyal readers I am now the Executive Chef at Raw Satisfaction cooking school in San Francisco. I hope that you are learning from my web site and that those of you who can will have the chance to pick up some tips directly.

This is a very common Cous Cous preparation and I don’t know where I had it first. I do know I loved it. It works as a base for lamb stew or it just lovely on it’s own as a light lunch

1/2-cup couscous (Acini di Pepe works)
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1-cup hot water
6 dry apricots soak the apricots in water overnight, cut in small pieces
2 tablespoons pistachios, crushed out of the shell
2 tablespoons almonds, sliced toasted
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
Salt
Pepper

Saute the onion with olive oil. Add the couscous and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the water, apricots, salt and pepper. Cook for about 8-10 minutes over medium-low heat. Turn the heat off, cover the lid. Let it rest for 20 minutes and at the end, all the water will evaporate. Toss in the pistachios, almonds and mint. Stir with a fork and serve while still warm.

Makes 2 servings at 390 calories each. This makes it a great base to serve with a small amount of chicken or lamb stew.

I don’t know how much nutrition you expect from pasta with a few nuts but it does have over 30% of the vitamin E you need.