Sunday: Lamb and gratin

Last night we had a couple of friends over for dinner.

The main course was pieces of lamb loin that I just seasoned, seared in the pan, and then finished in the oven. I served these with a vinaigrette made from preserved lemon, mustard, garlic, rosemary, cider vinegar, olive oil, some molasses, and a bit each of cayenne, cumin, and black pepper.

We also had a gratin of thinly sliced potatoes and celery root. I cooked the milk and cream with some bay leaf, a crushed garlic clove, vegetable bouillon, and cayenne. Just before using the liquid, I grated in some nutmeg. Andrea layered everything really nicely in a buttered gratin dish, spreading some sauce around the layers, and then we covered it with foil and baked at 175C. After half an hour I removed the foil, topped with grated cheese, and then baked another 20 minute or so until the cheese was nice and brown and bubbly.

As another side I played a little game with some sauerrüben (like sauerkraut, but made from turnips instead of cabbage) we found a the market on Saturday: I cooked some black mustard seeds in oil with some caraway until the mustard started to pop then tossed the seeds and oil with the rinsed and squeezed-out turnips. Southern Germany meets South India. :-)

Everything was quite nice.

Oh yeah, of course we had a big green salad.