Interview by K. :)

My fiendish plot worked!

Withholding next questions till tomorrow 'cause you keep answering immediately and if I don't ration I'll run out of things to ask way too quickly :)

Am I allowed to use images in these commenty post bits or not?

blah, I'm procrastinating, and I wrote this up for my friend who wanted the recipe, so since you & Paul are like the Cordon Bleu over there I thought I'd post it here for you, too, especially since so few people seem to know how to make PROPER pesto :)

[note - this was to someone who doesn't cook hardly at all, and is also allergic to sulfides [hence the note about the red wine] which is why it's so absurdly long and detailed, hehe]

Quick Notes -

This (very much in character) quite long email belies the fact that this is really very quick - but since I don't have exact measurements, I was trying to explain enough that it will make sense. The pesto takes about 10 minutes to make, and then the lamb takes maybe 15 minutes to do the preparations (not cooking it, obviously) - so it's actually a pretty low-energy and quick thing. I put in Fresh Direct links to the less obvious or confusing items.

One thing I would change about the recipe is I think next time I want to mix something a bit more substantial in with the pesto stuffing, to make it more a part of the lamb dish itself. I would probably use lamb sausage or ground lamb, because I'm not crazy about mixing meats together, although I might try quartered tomatoes since that would go well with both the pesto and the lamb. You could even try a cheese, though that might be pushing it in the "richness" department. Most likely I would mix up some ground lamb or de-cased lamb sausage with a little bit of tomato and the pesto, and add a bit more parmesan than I would in regular pesto. I think that would be substantial enough to make it more of a whole with the lamb itself. If you don't mind mixing meats, what I would definitely use is one or two Spicy Italian Sausages (http://www.freshdirect.com/product.jsp?productId=prk_har_ihtlnk&catId=saus_links&trk=cpage), taken out of the casings, and mixed up with the pesto.

[if the below is not formatted properly, sorry - I'm using tabs to try to make it as easy to read as possible]

Ingredients:

1 Two-pound Top Round Lamb Roast - you could use a boneless leg, or another cut,
but it has to be substantial enough to stuff.
The Top Round worked perfectly for me. Two pounds is plenty for two people
plus at least one night of leftovers - ours has last 3 days.
http://www.freshdirect.com/product.jsp?productId=lrst_rstbnlss&catId=lrstbnlss&trk=cpage

1 Assload of Basil.
I buy basil at the Met because it's cheaper, but you can get it
from Fresh Direct if you like. I would not get less than 10 of the
Met-sized packages or 8 of the Fresh Direct-sized ones.

1 Package of *Italian* Parsley (http://www.freshdirect.com/product.jsp?productId=hrb_ipars&catId=hrb&trk=srch)

1 Head of Garlic (not clove, full head)

Olive Oil

Parmesan Cheese, fresh as possible

1 Pound of pasta, dry, any type

Cheap red wine if you think you can stand it in a marinade, if not, then not.

[If stuffing with extras as described above in my note, 2 Hot Italian *or* 2 lamb sausages, plus 1 Heirloom or similar tomato]

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Directions:

PESTO:

Note - Making pesto is actually incredibly, incredibly easy, especially after you've done it once. The below description is so long that it makes it look really complicated, but I'm just trying to give you enough detail that you can understand what I mean, since I don't really know precise measurements for it. But in reality it's basically: dump in basil, cheese, oil, and garlic; puree; add parsley and salt to taste; adjust where necessary; puree till done. The whole thing takes me not even ten minutes.

Take about 60 - 70% of your basil without stems (you can use the stem bits that are closer to the leaves - I usually just lop off the whole bundle right where the first leaves starts and use that whole thing - if you want to be a purist you can rip the leaves off the stems completely, though) and puree it in a food processor or a blender (you will likely have to process and add, process and add, process and add the basil unless you have a gigantic food processor/blender) along with about 1/4 of a cup of the olive oil, 3 or 4 good-sized cloves of garlic, approximately 1-2 tablespoons of Parmesan, and a dash of salt.

Once that basil is all ground up, add a small handful of parsley - with NO STEMS whatsoever. You need to get the leaves off the main stems (the leaf stems are okay) - otherwise you'll have the straw-like parsley stems getting stuck all in your teeth every mouthful. When I say handful, I mean about what you can rip off if you grab the leaves of the parsley and pull. I think it would probably come out to about a half-a-cup loose if you didn't smush it, just put it into the measuring cup. Puree the parsley in with the basil and then taste it. If it's too bland, add more basil, garlic, and cheese, each in turn, to get it to the right mixture. If it's too "basil-y," add more olive oil and parsley, a bit at a time. You will likely have to add bits at a time of all the ingredients until it is right - that's why I say don't use 100% of the basil at first; you need it for backup if you don't get the proportions right at first (which I never do).

The consistency should be smooth, and the pureed mixture should be primarily green but the non-green [liquid] parts should be kind of milky-colored (the cheese mixing with the olive oil makes it milky when there is sufficient oil and cheese). It will taste like it ought to taste even prior to cooking, so keep tasting it until you get it right.

I personally use very little salt in the mix and then salt afterwards to my own taste because Mike doesn't like salt much and I dump a ton of salt on everything.

This pesto mix will make far more than you need for the pasta and the lamb, because it's silly to make just a tiny bit at once, so you can freeze it and it will keep really well if you like.

IF ADDING THE "EXTRAS" TO THE STUFFING:

Take the casings off the 1 to 2 sausages if you chose sausages as opposed to ground lamb. Cut the tomato into eight pieces or so, skin on. Remove about a cup and a half or so of the pesto to use for the stuffing, probably a little less, if your lamb roast is two pounds. Add or subtract a half a cup for each pound above or below two pounds. Mix in the de-cased sausages and the tomato slices with the pesto. Make sure the sausage bits are small - less than 3/4 of an inch in diameter - so they will be sure to cook thoroughly.

LAMB:

The lamb can't be frozen for this, so make sure you take it out of the freezer at least 24 hours before you want to make it, or leave it in the fridge if you're making it sooner than later after buying the lamb. Don't keep the lamb in the refrigerator for longer than three days, though, because it won't be nearly as good - if it's going to be that long, freeze it.

Have your pesto mix and two cloves of garlic and the olive oil standing by for this. The cloves should be chopped into about four to six pieces each.

You need to do the stuffing a *minimum* of two hours before cooking. Overnight is best, but I did it about six hours before the roast got cooked and that worked fine.

Take a very, very sharp knife and cut a hole down the middle of the roast for the stuffing. This hole should be lengthwise (think of it so that when you slice the roast, there should be an oblong of the stuffing in each slice) and through the entire roast. I go in first from one end and then from the other end so that both ends of the hole are pretty wide. If you have one of those knife-sharpener things that are a round bit on a handle you can use that to wiggle around in the cut hole to make it bigger - I don't so I used a wooden spoon. Ideally you should have a hole that's about two inches wide and that will stretch easily to an inch high.

Stuff the hole full of your pesto stuffing mix. If you want to add some extra salt and pepper that's fine too. Cram as much as you possibly can into the lamb.

Slice some small holes at angles into the outside of the roast and shove a garlic slice into each of the holes. Try to get the slices as into the meat as possible. Use however many of the garlic slices as you think is wise - I usually stud them into 3 rows of 4 or 5 slices each. This helps the marinade permeate the whole roast.

Take some of the regular pesto mixture (not the one with sausage and tomato - that's just for the stuffing), and smear it all over the top of the roast. Add a bit more olive oil to this, whether before or while smearing. If you decided you can deal with a smidge of red wine in the marinade, add that before smearing - only about a 1/4 of a cup or so, just a dash really.

Put the lamb into the roasting pan you intend to use (it should have a rack, by the way - the lamb should go on a rack in the roasting pan), cover it completely and well with Saran Wrap, and put it into the refrigerator. After a few hours, or in the morning if you let it marinate overnight, throw a little more olive oil onto it to keep it moist.

COOKING EVERYTHING:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees for ten minutes or so. Then turn it down to 350 degrees. Roast the lamb for *about* fifteen - twenty minutes per pound (cut to check for doneness - it can be quite done and still look a bit pink on the outside, unlike beef) - roasting for 50 minutes was a bit too much for me (though we like it pretty rare) - I'd say that 30 - 40 minutes would have been about right for our two-pound roast. Don't forget that meat keeps cooking after you take it out. If you have a meat thermometer, the lamb should be around 125 degrees for pretty rare when you remove it from the oven.

After you remove the lamb, put it upside down (compared to how it was in the oven) to rest (I usually use a cutting board) - I like to wrap it in tinfoil to keep it hot and to keep it from dripping everywhere while it rests. Let it be for 15 minutes.

About 15 minutes into the roasting, start a big pot of water for the pasta. Cook the pound of pasta as normal. If it finishes before the lamb roast, just put the pesto on it and cover the pot - it will stay hot enough that way to be quite hot when the lamb is done.

If you want, drizzle a little bit of whatever is left of the pesto onto the lamb slices to make it a little pesto-ier.