Don Quixote Was a Steel Drivin’ Man

Seems like sandwiches are becoming a theme on this blog, even though I don’t actually believe in sandwiches. They aren’t real food, just snacks.

Ah, the good old days when I used to put my beliefs, like the above, into practice. Back then my slogan was “fat is flavor.” Now I am into reality-based views, such as “I am too fat.” And “I want to live long enough to see my kids grow up.” Oh well.

Anyhow, this weekend was Easter for Orthodox Christians, so we celebrated by eating a feast. I was proud of myself for preparing the whole meal in only 3.5 hours, which for me is a very brief feast preparation. I also was proud that I didn’t employ my normal “restaurant” method, which is to pretend that a clean-up crew will come in later and the mess isn’t my business. Of course, one reason for the relative brevity and the leisurely pace is that I didn’t take any pictures. Sorry.

I made a 7 3/4 lb roasted leg of lamb–the smallest leg of lamb available in town–roasted for about 2.5 hours at 375, with slivers of garlic and cinnamon stick poked into little holes all over the lamb, and then a layer of sea salt and oregano rubbed on.

I also made Greek roasted potatoes. For this, you slice potatoes into about 6-8 slices lengthwise. You then cover the potatoes with water, in a long pyrex dish, and squeeze half a lemon or so onto them, and then splash in some olive oil (and if you don’t do the next step, some salt). Only this time I made two dishes, and put the lamb over the dish (I switched the lamb from one dish to another and moved the lamb drippings between pans with a baster). Ridiculously delish, but very fat-is-flavor.

Then I made veggies: dandelion greens (ie leaves) that L collected from our garden; I washed and soaked and picked through them about 4 times each to get rid of dirt, grass, stray flower stems etc. Then I boiled them for over an hour in a full pot of water, chopped them thoroughly, and put them in a dish with lemon, olive oil, and sea salt. This makes very authentic Greek “Horta”. When they were done I cleaned the pot and boiled four large artichokes (I split them each in half and served them with vinagrette rather than butter).

Finally, I prepared what my family calls “shredded salad.” This is an all-green herb-based salad that is very authentically Greek. You start by carefully washing and drying a Romaine lettuce. You then shred it with a sharp knife into strips of less than a quarter inch. Then you prep and shred a third of a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, a big handful of fresh dill, and chop them both fine. Then cut four scallions into quarter inch or smaller bits. You throw ‘em all together into a decent sized salad bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and squueze in the juice of one very small lemon (or about 3/4 of a medium one), toss in a small palmful of sea salt, and toss vigorously.

This is where the world’s greatest sandwich comes in. The roast lamb came out beautifully. The top have was medium well-done, gray with streaks of light pink; the bottom half was cooked but entirely pink (not bloody or purple, but entirely pink). I cut very thin slices off the leftover roast–for me mostly pink but a little grey too, making sure to get bits of garlic and cinnamon in some slices– and then I layered some nice Feta cheese, four small slices of meat, and a final layer of shredded salad onto a good baguette.

And voila, the world’s greatest sandwich. With a small side of the potatoes (quickly warmed) it is heaven.

(yes, everything had lemon-olive oil-sea salt in it). The below is a stock photo; mine would have little bits of cinnamon stick poking out all over, but looked otherwise similar. The potatoes here look about right.