What I had for dinner:

Lamb spoon roast with carrots

11 May 1996 23:22:58 -0400

Thoroughly depressed after seeing "The truth about cats & dogs" -- do these people think that displaying bottles of Corona and Rolling Rock is going to get them the mate of their dreams? Gag! -- I walked home in the post-thunderstorm drizzle. What's for dinner? Not leftover cake, that's for sure.

Beef with carrots is one of my favorite cold-weather dishes; lamb is my favorite meat; and it's raining. Not really cold, but good enough to pass. The lamb (1/2 leg, butt half) was browned on all sides, then cooked in a pressure cooker with 1 1/2 pint of water for 25 min. The liquid was drained and defatted, the meat trimmed of fat and gristle, and they were returned to the cooker, with some tomato juice (leftover from the preparation of a dip), 1/2 onion, 3 carrots sliced thin, 4 large cloves of garlic (crushed), a couple of bay leaves, and a teaspoon of sage, and cooked under pressure for another 25 min.

The meat was separated from the bone, the liquid was strained through a sieve and some carrot-and-stuff was mashed through with a spoon. Meat and sauce were boiled together uncovered until the sauce thickened. The meat should be tender enough to eat with a spoon (not that anyone does it), hence the name.

I served this with sauteed small new potatoes.

To drink, an Aventinus double wheat bock, with a sweetness that complements well the sweetness of the carrots.